Horace Dalley (left), Minister of Labour and Social Security, peruses the 2003 Jamaica Employers' Federation (JEF) salary survey with Alvin McIntosh (centre), his Permanent Secretary, and Herbert Lewis, president of the JEF, following the official launch of the study at the Terra Nova Hotel, St. Andrew, yesterday. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer THE GOVERNMENT is to announce next week the increase in wages and benefits it has granted to security guards and other workers paid at the level of the National Minimum Wage, as well as when the new rates will become effective.
Horace Dalley, Minister of Labour and Social Security, said Cabinet has approved the increases and he would be making an announcement next week rather than await his presentation to the ongoing Sectoral Debate, which started in July. The Gleaner understands that the Minister will make the announcement at a press briefing next Wednesday and that the increase is likely to be in the order of 10 per cent to 12 per cent.
Mr. Dalley also criticised trade unions which were seeking the renegotiation of wage agreements based on recent cost of living increases.
"I don't believe that just because there is a shift in one quarter, this should be used as a reason to renegotiate all wage agreements," he told The Gleaner.
One of the major findings of the Jamaica Employers' Federation (JEF) salary survey is that this year, there has been an overall average of 10 per cent increase in the salaries of non-unionised workers in the categories examined.
SURVEY FINDINGS
It also found that the average annual salary of supervisory personnel in the services sector has, for the first time since 1999, surpassed those in the manufacturing sector. According to the survey, in 1999, a supervisor in the services sector was being paid on average $601,001, while his counterpart in the manufacturing sector got $643,530. In 2003, the same supervisor in the services sector is being paid on average $838,633, while his manufacturing counterpart is being paid $770,407.
Mr. Dalley was speaking at the official launch of the 2003 JEF salary survey for supervisory, clerical and hourly-paid workers at the Terra Nova Hotel, St. Andrew yesterday.
The Minister, in commenting on the salary survey, said it "provides a timely point of departure for us to commit to the development of a framework for a compensation philosophy within the context of a social contract."
In that regard, he said that "if we are able to develop a compensation philosophy built upon the foundations of efficiency, equity and compliance, then we will be able to minimise the number of conflicts which arise from wage and salary negotiations, and provide a basis for motivating, recognising and rewarding good performance."
SOCIAL CONTRACT
In placing compensation in the context of the social contract, Mr. Dalley said the Government was obliged to define itself as a third party in the employment relationship. "The only leverage we have is that we seek to do so through the National Minimum Wage, which represents one tool to provide both a social and an economic function in the labour market, to ensure a minimum compensation level for certain categories of workers."
It was in that context that the Minister said that "Cabinet has recently approved increases to the National Minimum Wage and the minimum wage for industrial security guards, and I believe it is now urgent that such an announcement not await my budget presentation, and I, therefore, propose to do so in the coming week."
Mr. Dalley said the minimum wage would take effect 60 days after his announcement, in keeping with a commitment he gave that he would not announce changes which affect the business sector without adequate notice.
The minimum wage was last increased in January 2002, moving by 50 per cent from $1,200 to $1,800 per week. This created a new minimum rate of $45 per hour for a 40-hour week, up from $30 per hour.
