DALLEYDionne Rose, Staff Reporter
PARLIAMENT YESTERDAY approved a 20 per cent increase in the national minimum wage, the highest increase since 2001.
The increase, which will take effect on January 31, will see workers in this category earning $2,400 per week, up from $2,000. Industrial Security Guards will also get an increase of 12.5 per cent or $90 per hour, up from $80 per hour.
OTHER BENEFITS TO
SECURITY GUARDS:
Laundry allowance
$16 p.h. to $18 p.h.
Firearm premium allowance
$17 p.h. to $20 p.h.
Dog Handler's premium allowance
$12 p.h. to $14 p.h.
Life Insurance/double indemnity
$1 million
In presenting the new rates to the Lower House yesterday, Horace Dalley, Minister of Labour and Social Security, said the proposed 20 per cent increase in the National Minimum Wage was arrived at after careful consideration.
AHEAD OF INFLATION
He noted that accumulative inflation rate for January to November 2004 stood at 13.1 per cent and that for the calendar year it was not expected to exceed 14 per cent. "The increase of 20 per cent, therefore, will keep the most vulnerable Jamaican workers ahead of inflation," noted the minister.
Meanwhile, Opposition spokesman on Labour, Ruddy Spencer, said that the increases were not enough. He said: "In Jamaica today a 20 per cent increase is not a meaningful increase. I submit that 20 per cent of $2,000 as a living wage in the context of Jamaica today is unreasonable."
The increases have surpassed recommendations that were made by stakeholders in the sector to the Minimum Wage Advisory Commission, the body designated by the ministry to reviewing the national minimum wage. The Jamaica Household Workers Association (JHWA) had lobbied for a 50 per cent increase, while the Jamaica Employers Federation (JEF), the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) and the unions put forward increases of three per cent, 11 per cent and 14.1 per, respectively.
Senator Dwight Nelson, president of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Union (JCTU), however, welcomed the increases. "I am glad that the Cabinet has shown consideration for this deprived set of workers."
IGNORED RECOMMENDATIONS
However, Jacqueline Coke-Lloyd, executive director of the JEF expressed surprise at the level of increase. "We can't understand the rationale. The ministry seems to have ignored the majority of the recommendations that was put to the commission and we are certainly concerned about the employers," she said.
She also warned that this level of increase would further erode the Security Guard Industry, which she said had already seen a 24 per cent decrease in employment.
Minister Dalley also gave notice that the ministry would be this year pushing to amend legislations governing the minimum wage to ensure that a more "punitive schedule of sanctions for non-compliance".
The minimum wage moved from $1,200 to $1,800; in 2003 it moved from $1,800 to $2,000 and to $2,400 this year.
