By Balford Henry, News EditorTHE NATIONAL Minimum Wage Advisory Commission (NMWAC) is likely to meet next week at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to start deliberations on an increased National Minimum Wage (NMW) as well as a new minimum hourly rate for security guards.
No decision has yet been made on when the Commission will sit, but a meeting has been tentatively set for next week Thursday.
The Commission has already advertised for persons or organisations interested in making submissions to come forward. They are expected to start sifting through the responses next week, after which written submissions will be requested and the sittings to hear oral submissions arranged. The Commission will then
carry out its research, after which it will make recommendations to the Minister to be taken to Cabinet for approval by Parliament.
The Commission has been asked to submit its recommendations to the Minister by March 31.
The last increase was the 50 per cent raise which moved the NMW from $1,200 per week to $1,800, effective January 7, 2002. This created a new minimum rate of $45 per hour for a 40-hour week, instead of $30 per hour.
The minimum hourly rate for industrial security guards also moved from $50.50 per hour to $70.70. Security guards also benefited from a 50 per cent increase in laundry, firearm and dog handler's premium allowances.
The minimum wage was previously 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 fell 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.
Recently, the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Horace Dalley, agreed that the minimum wage and that of industrial security guards should be reviewed annually. His call followed discussions with the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) and JEF, last November, when both groups made similar proposals.
The Ministry of Labour said that the Minister's call was an attempt to ensure that there were gradual increases in the National Minimum Wage, to minimise the effect of substantial increases at longer intervals.
