Minimum wage to rise

The minimum wage in this country is set to increase.

That’s according to Minister of Labour and Social Partnership Relations, Colin Jordan, who made the disclosure in the House of Assembly yesterday morning while making his contribution to the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill.

Jordan, the Member of Parliament for St. Peter, indicated that this expected increase in is keeping with a commitment the Barbados Labour Party placed in its election manifesto last year.

“We have met with the Minimum Wage Board – the Minimum Wage Board is a tripartite construct that is tasked with advising the Minister responsible for Labour with recommendations on the level of minimum wage and how and if it should be adjusted. We’ve met with the Minimum Wage Board including independent representatives, representatives from the business community, employers, and representatives from workers’ organisations, and we have indicated to them that Government is moving
forward with the process of revising upward the minimum wage for workers in Barbados,” he told the Lower House.

He added, “That is a commitment we made to the people of this country; it is a commitment we intend to keep.”

Jordan said it is also in keeping with the Government’s thrust to promote fairness among the social partners.

He made the comments while noting that Government has improved the business environment for entities operating in it, by decreasing the corporation taxes that they
pay.

“After coming into office we have reduced corporation taxes significantly from 25 percent to a maximum of five percent, there are some business who will pay maybe three percent in corporation tax and we are saying to businesses in Barbados today, that we expect them to come to the table. And there is at present consultation as it relates to increasing that minimum wage for Barbadian workers and we expect that we will progress in that over the coming months. Businesses have to be fair to workers and this Barbados Labour Party Government is a government that like I always say, was built out of the struggle of workers in this country,” he stated.

Speaking more on the efforts to help workers, he referred to the Mottley Administration’s First Job Initiative which is intended to allow young people to be able to get 12-month internships with organisations in the public sector, private sector and the third sector in this country. Jordan alluding to the benefits that will accrue from that programme, said there is definitely a role for the local business community to play.

“…We expect businesses to partner with us – small business, medium businesses, large businesses – we expect them in response to the environment that we are creating for them and for the country to respond and assist government with the load, the burden of financing these internships for the young people of our country,” he said.

He made the comments while suggesting that the programme would be a great help in engaging the youth and ensuring that they do not get involved in deviant behaviour. He said while he is not suggesting that every young person involved in deviant behaviour, is due to them not having access to opportunities, Jordan acknowledged that when people feel disconnected from the system, it becomes easy for them to turn against that system.

“We are calling on business owners, business managers, owners of capital, controllers of capital in this country, to join with us. We’ve already reached out to many businesses and we are calling publicly on businesses to join with us in this National First Jobs Programme. We must give opportunities to our young people, opportunities to be workers... opportunities that would allow young people to recognise that maybe I don’t want to work for somebody, maybe I want to start my own business,” the Labour Minister said.

With that in mind, he said that through the First Jobs Programme, they will not only be attaching young people to established businesses, but also attaching some of them to master tradesmen. This, he said, would allow them to develop a skill which they can in turn use to become entrepreneurs and employ persons as well. (JRT)