FINANCE Minister Dr Nigel Clarke has indicated that fiscal adjustments will be made in order to settle outstanding contractual arrangements with industrial security companies, in order to ensure that guards who are still being paid at pre-2022 minimum wage rates begin receiving correct payments.

The issue mainly relates to the Ministry of Health and Wellness, which has the bulk of the contracts with private security companies.

The finance minister gave the undertaking after Opposition spokesman on finance Julian Robinson pressed him on whether guards could be confident that they will be paid the new rates of $14,000 which were recently announced, and for which orders were brought to Parliament by Labour Minister Karl Samuda on Tuesday. This rate takes effect on June 1.

Robinson argued given that some guards employed to the Government service are still not being paid at the current rates which were approved in 2022.

He pointed out that the permanent secretary for the Ministry of Health, Dr Dunstan Bryan, had divulged at last week’s meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that more than half of the negotiation for security contracts for 2022 have not been concluded.

The Opposition spokesman stressed that the companies cannot be expected to absorb the increases mandated by law, without adjustments to their contracts with the Government. “It is not reasonable to believe that these small companies who employ hundreds, sometimes thousands of employees can absorb these increases on their own, waiting for a year and more for that adjustment in the contract,” he said.

Dr Clarke explained that persons directly employed to the Government have been paid, but that there are outstanding issues regarding small and medium-sized companies which have contracts with “one or two ministries, in particular”, and who are not observing the law.

“When confronted, the answer they give is that they are waiting for their contracts with the ministries to be renewed. The way in which the law works is that the responsibility to pay workers the minimum wage rests with the employer, which in the cases being identified are these particular business,” he said, pointing out that the Ministry of Health and Wellness is addressing the contractual issue with the entities.

However, he said the companies must take responsibility. “If the law comes down on them, they can’t go to court and say it’s their contract; they are a limited liability company, they have an obligation to observe the law. The Government of Jamaica has fulfilled its responsibility in terms of raising the minimum wage. We have also fulfilled our responsibility where people who are directly employed to the Government have been paid the amounts,” Clarke argued.

He reminded the House that in the public sector compensation review, weekly paid salaries for guards directly employed to the Government have moved from $9,000 and $10,000 to between $15,000, and $20,000 weekly. “There was a time when in terms of direct employment, the Government was the largest employer of minimum wage [earners]. Under this Government, that is no longer the case. The minimum salaries in the public sector are far ahead of the minimum wage,” he stressed.

Robinson rejected the explanation, pointing out that security companies have been seeking to resolve the issue over the last couple of budget cycles.