- SVG Govt wants minimum wage raise to $50 per day
St Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves says his government is exploring an EC$50 daily minimum wage, which is a 20 percent increase. Last Wednesday, Gonsalves announced that the cabinet has provided complete endorsement on the matter and indicated that an official announcement will be made during the budget session, commencing on Monday.
“The government is awaiting the final recommendation of the Wages Council, and we are expecting some pushback from some employers. The Wages Council was looking at a broad increase of 20 percent of the minimum set in 2017. Disappointingly, a number of employers have not participated.”
“For the call centre workers who came on afterwards, theirs would be 15 percent. Because I think they came in 2020 or thereabouts”.
Gonsalves clarified that the minimum wage does not represent the government’s mandated salary for employees, but rather the lowest amount that a company is legally allowed to pay a worker.
Gonsalves emphasised the need for a firm stance when it comes to cleaners and domestics.
“We have to take a strong line on equity as we approach the end of the first quarter of the 21st century; some of these things will be altered. Some of the minimums are just too small, and even 20 percent increased after 2017 in many cases. It’s just not enough.”
Regarding the matter of maternity leave Gonsalves asserts that his administration aims to extend the duration of maternity leave. He notes that upon assuming office, regular employees, excluding civil servants, were granted a four-week leave, which was subsequently extended to eight weeks.
“It should be more than eight weeks so that the National Insurance Services will pay 65 percent and the employer will pay 35 percent. Employers would say a woman who wants eight weeks of maternity leave would have to take four of them without pay. So all you get is 65 percent from the NIS, if in fact your employer’s making the NIS payments”.
Gonsalves stated that the administration has raised minimum wages on four occasions since assuming office in March 2001, in contrast to the primary opposition party, the NDP, which has done so only once in a span of 16 years.
