By Teino Evans, Staff Reporter
Lester Gayle, security guard. - Winston Sill/Staff Photographer
THE NEW national minimum wage, as well as new minimum rates for security guards which will come into effect on November 1, 2003 are being scoffed at as being inadequate by many who are to get the higher rates.
Since the increase was announced by Minister of Labour and Social Security, Horace Dalley earlier this month, security guards, household helpers, office maids and handymen, among other categories of minimum wage earners, have voiced concern over the small rate of increase, as they say it will still be a struggle for them to make ends meet.
The new rates will increase the minimum wage by $200 from $1,800 per week to $2,000 per week, an increase of 11.1 per cent. For industrial security guards, the new hourly rate will be $80 per hour, up from $70.70 per hour, an increase of 13.15 per cent.
FORCED TO HUSTLE
But according to Lester Gayle, a security guard employed to Guardsman Limited for two and a half years now, he is forced to hustle on the side just to make ends meet, as he has two children (both five years old) going to school.
Mr. Gayle, who is paid fortnightly, says he is "paid based on the amount of duties worked." A duty, he says, is any 12-hour shift over a two-week period.
At present, he earns $86 an hour, totalling just over $8,000 after tax deductions.
While lauding the security company for having higher rates of payment, according to him, budgeting this is still not easy, as food, utility bills and support for his two children often prove to be a tedious task.
"I budget $1,500 every two weeks for food for the house, and this normally covers light stuff like rice, flour, sugar and tin products," he says.
Gayle says occasionally he'll buy three pounds of chicken that he cooks for dinner and lunch the next day.
Where the needs of his two children are concerned, Mr. Gayle is only able to donate $1,500 towards the welfare of each child, and this he says, "will cover little snacks and things for them to go to school."
However, he is challenged at the start of each new school term, when he has to find $3,000 to pay for each of his children's school fee. Both attend separate basic schools in Kingston.
He says he has to use his entire pay, sacrificing groceries for that period, in order to try and cover back-to-school expenses.
"What I have to do is pay one school fee in full and the other in part, because I have to cover other school costs," he says.
There are other demands including utility bills amounting to $800 which must be met.
In order to make ends meet, Mr. Gayle says he has to hustle during his off-duty hours, to add to his main source of income.
He works on his stepfather's delivery truck when he gets mornings or days off from the security company, on weekends he works as a part-time entertainment coordinator at a night club in Spanish Town, and outside of this he runs an entertainment company (JAM-LAUR Entertainment).
Mr. Gayle, however, admits "none of these jobs are highly paying" as they are all part-time and only there to fill a gap.
He said even at his age of 25, he is not ashamed of the fact that his mother still offers him and his children financial support.
DOWN-TO-THE-BONE BUDGET
The down-to-the-bone budgeting is also the experience of 'Miss Hyacinth', a days worker for over five years.
She is not enthused about the proposed increase in minimum wage, as she says, the cost of living is so high that it may make the increase null and void.
According to 'Miss Hyacinth', in times gone by, she was able to manoeuvre herself much better and hustle job after job. Now, she says, she is only able to manage two to three jobs per week, as ill-health has slowed her down considerably.
She said it is a constant struggle to keep up with her finances. "I have two children in high school, plus a grandchild that lives with me, so the majority of expenses fall on me," she said.
Although the Ministry of Education pays a quarter of the school fee, there is struggle to find the remainder ($6,000), and even up to today, she still owes a portion of that fee.
In terms of budgeting for food and other groceries, 'Ms. Hyacinth' says she has to live from "day-to-day".
"Sometimes mi spen a thousand dollars and buy a few likkle things to eat, or when mi daughter can fix mi up wid a money or suh."
For 'Maxine', a counter clerk at a wholesale shop in Kingston, she has to work sometimes "from nine in di morning till all hours a night, six days a week," and earns only $2,000 a week.
