KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – The St. Vincent and the Grenadines says it is considering a 20 per cent increase in the minimum wage with a view to ensuring that no worker earns less than EC$50 (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) daily.
The Ralph Gonsalves administration said it is also looking to increase the length of paid maternity leave.
The wage review coincides with the Caribbean Society for Human Resource Professionals report last November that found the island was among the lowest-paying countries in the Caribbean, with 73.3 per cent of salaries being below the average market value across the region.
Prime Minister Gonsalves said that the government is awaiting the final recommendation of the Wages Council but was expecting some push back from some employers.
He said he has secured the full support of the Cabinet on the issue and that there would be an announcement during the budget next week.
He said that a minimum wage is not an indication of how much the government is saying an employee must be paid.
Gonsalves said this is the fourth time his ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) government is increasing minimum wages since coming to office in March 2001, compared to once in 16.5 years under the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP).
He said the Wages Council was looking at a broad increase of 20 per cent of the minimum set in 2017, when the last adjustment was made.
Among them, he mentioned retail store owners and people who employ cleaners and domestics.
“But, the truth is this: we have to take a strong line on equity. And we have to make sure that as we approach the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, that some of these things be altered,” Gonsalves said, noting that “some of the minimums are just too small and even 20 per cent increase after 2017 in many cases, just not enough…”
Gonsalves also said his government also wants to give more time for maternity leave.
The prime minister said an employer would say a woman who wants eight weeks’ maternity leave would have to take four of them without pay.
“So, all you do is get 65 per cent from the NIS, if in fact your employer’s making the NIS payments,” said Gonsalves,
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