CABINET HAS recommended a 50 per cent increase in the National Minimum Wage which moves from $1,200 per week to $1,800, effective January 7, 2002.
This means persons earning the minimum wage will now be paid at a rate of $45 per hour for a 40-hour week instead of the current $30.
Also, the minimum wage for industrial security guards will move from $50.50 per hour to $70.70. Security guards will also benefit from a 50 per cent increase in laundry, firearm premium and dog handler's premium allowance.
Information Minister Colin Campbell made the announcement while speaking to reporters during yesterday's post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House. He said the Cabinet had received and accepted the proposal of the National Minimum Wage Commission, submitted to Labour Minister Donald Buchanan last week.
The recommendations are subject to the affirmative resolution of Parliament, and Mr. Buchanan will table the relevant document in the House next week.
The minimum wage was last increased on August 2, 1999. It affects mostly non-unionised workers in the catering, dry goods, garment and dry cleaning trade as well as agriculture and household workers.
The 50 per cent, or $600 per week increase falls short of the 100 per cent hike recommended by the National Workers Union (NWU), which had argued that it would have been necessary to lift the rate above the poverty line. An increase equivalent to 85 per cent of the per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and spread over three years was recommended by the Jamaica Employers Federation (JEF).
The JEF had also suggested that Government provide subsidised passes for the unemployed and minimum wage earners; access to food stamps for all persons earning at or below the minimum wage; affordable child care facilities; and unemployment insurance scheme as an alternative to redundancy. Both the NWU and JEF had proposed that the increases be addressed annually.
