Est.2007

Barbados Underground

Bringing News and Opinions to the People

Banner promoting anonymous crime reporting with a phone and contact number 1 800 TIPS (8477), featuring the Crime Stoppers logo and a QR code for submitting tips.

Minimum Wage (Yes) Timing (No?)

← Back

Your message to the BLOGMASTER was sent

CONTACT THE BLOGMASTER ONLY

Whether studying the issue in the classroom or conversing in a rum shop the amount and timing of the implementation of a national minimum wage generates robust discussion in any country. Pros and cons are easy to find on both sides of the contentious issue.

The Barbados government some suggest are moving like the proverbial bull in a china shop to implement a minimum wage of $8.50, up from $6.25 with security guards to get $9.25 to take effect on All Fools Day 2021. The trade unions are saying it is too low and it should be implemented without delay. Some in the private sector suggest it is too high and the date of introduction is too aggressive.

This government’s decision to increase the minimum wage is commendable and long overdue. The evidence support in the last 5 years there has been significant upward movement in the rate of inflation and the Retail Price Index supports Barbados being an expensive place to live.

The concern by parties of the dispassionate kind entering the debate is not the amount of the minimum wage being introduced but its timing. Moving from $6.25 to $8.50 is significant. Its introduction must be weighed against how the market is likely to respond. Unfortunately this is an unknown. After more than 10 years of a struggling economy many businesses are operating with depleted cashflows. Bear in mind COVID 19 would have exacerbated stress to the profit and loss of many businesses. It is easy for some to sit in the armchair and make the uninformed assumption that all businesses make money. Many operate at the margins.

On the biscuit and cheese side of the discussion, the data supports those earning at a subsistence level must be experiencing an enormous challenge. The obvious position is that a caring society must find ways to support the most vulnerable. The blogmaster will not join the politically motivated and uninformed crews by shouting the minimum wage should be hiked to $10.00 and to hell with considering the consequences. Many debating the issue are unaware this is a debate raging in many countries including the most developed.

It may be useful for the calculus used by the technicians to be made public. The majority of Barbadians will not understand it but it make help to deflate the emotional arguments that a national minimum wage amount is not determined by pulling from a hat.

It seems the majority of opinion from the private sector is that the timing is bad given the vagaries of market of the last 13 years and the consequential negative impact. From the view of trade unions and under-represented workers, now is the best time because of the current state of things.

In is against this background the government has had to make a tough decision.

The blogmaster is always amused when decisions – as in this case moving forward with the implementation of a minimum wage is made – several interest groups will make themselves heard post facto. What is the purpose of the tripartite arrangement (Social Partnership) we beat our chest again? The discord the many dissenting views must cause the public does not help to inflate confidence into the Barbados space. In a situation like this why the social partnership could not have agreed to a communique registering the different concerns after discussing government’s decision to move ahead? It seems all issues in the country have to be resolved after a predictable adversarial process. Historically this has not been the Barbados way.

Whether the government folds to the request of private sector to suspend the hike in minimum wage or not, there is a problem to solve.

How do we (society) protect the vulnerable and marginalized worker in the society at a difficult time.

How does government implement a minimum wage policy to equatable redistribute income in the society.

So far the statement on the matter from Andrew Bynoe of A1 supermarkets is one of the more sensible ones registering with the blogmaster.

I would even advocate moving to $10 an hour to somebody who works for 40 hours, so they would have a gross take-home pay of $400. However, having said that, the cost of living has to be addressed, because for businesses to be able to support the minimum wage up to $10, we have to look at the other areas of costs that affect the running of businesses…Employees would have to honour efficiency and higher productivity within the workplace…

Andrew Bynoe

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

354 responses to “Minimum Wage (Yes) Timing (No?)”

  1. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ WURA
    Like I stated recently: The detractors will fail and those coming after them will also fail. When we have people defending the indefensible, to score some cheap blows, this is what happens. Imagine 60 years after Independence, we have business people giving a government all kinds of anti- worker instructions.
    But it gets worse: We have a Prime Minister telling exploited workers to” watch” how they behave because people outside the country are “watching”
    Nobody is guarding the guards and those of us who speak truth to power, are being told , how to speak and what to say. Why the hell they don’t go and tell Abed and Clarke how to speak and what to say?
    Its a shame that we have educated people free of cost who have no social conscience. They don’t even have the capacity to pretend they care. This battle is far from won. .

  2. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    Nobody is guarding the guards and those of us who speak truth to power, are being told , how to speak and what to say. Why the hell they don’t go and tell Abed and Clarke how to speak and what to say?

    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

    THEY BEHAVE AND ACT LIKE CRABS IN THE BARREL SYNDROME ON THE 2 x 3 ISLAND..

    NO WONDER THE INDIANS AND WHITES ARE PRIMARILY LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK.

  3. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Wuhlaus! Kerry “Oblong Head” pon de stage pompasettin’!

  4. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “But it gets worse: We have a Prime Minister telling exploited workers to” watch” how they behave because people outside the country are “watching”

    she should have told them that SHE is the one BEING WATCHED…..not the workers…these still believe someone got time for their colonial slavery derived spinoff of political nonsense..

    they got much more to fret about soon….so they better hold on the fretting, so their heart attack can happen one time…..instead of two or three…

    not letting a fella tell me what to say or how to say it….they too love keeping the slave society intact…as they were BRED TO…

  5. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    William…this from a german mag….Black people in Barbados must stop spening their money with minorities…..and circulate among themselves, but this requires discipline and self-awareness…..and the DESIRE TO SEE EACH OTHER PROSPER….and stop working for RACISTS.

    “How long does the dollar circulate?
    Across the political spectrum of Black Resistance movements – from Garvey to Malcolm X to Killer Mike on his Netflix show Trigger Warning – the myth that a dollar only circulates in the black community for a certain amount of time has run its course. Only by keeping the money in the community for the long term could prosperity be created in the long term.

    The German Rosa-Mag also refers to black buying power. In an article about Afro-German founders it says: “Although the purchasing power of black people is increasing globally, they spend less money on black-owned businesses than any other ethnic group in the world.” In the USA, for example, one dollar circulates for 28 days in the Asian community, 17 days in the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) communities; in the black community, on the other hand, only six hours. “That means 99 percent of the $ 1.3 trillion purchasing power of black people in the US is spent outside the community,”

  6. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Black people have to STOP WORKING FOR MINORITIES…no if, ands or buts…

    “A question of the relations of production
    The conclusion of the circulation arguments: Instead of demanding a social economic policy, better working conditions, higher taxes for the rich and the socialization of large companies, the poor are made responsible for their own poverty, since from this perspective poverty is not the result of structurally unequal property relations, but poor individual decisions is.

    In principle, wealth or prosperity does not arise from the fact that money circulates in communities, but rather from the conditions of production. It is the added value of human work that is realized as profit that companies reinvest in their expansion. Because workers get less wages than they produce in value through their work, there is poverty on the one hand and excessive wealth on the other. No consumption decision can influence this social relationship between the bourgeoisie and the wage earners.

    Kofi Shakur
    lives in Berlin, where he studies social sciences”

  7. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Our world has already reach the level of inequitous wealth and incomes distributions patterns which were dominant before World War Two.

    Those conditions gave rise to Adolf Hitler in the 20th Century and Donald Trump in the 21st. Have spawned a larger number of autocrats since. All promising to make their countries great.

    The wealthy have proven to us that “one woman one vote” cannot compete against “one dollar one vote”.

    Adding an estimated 12 trillion dollars in inherited wealth, in the US alone, over the next 10 years will exacerbate an already highly geared financialized system controlled by an aristocratic class. 85% of capital is now being invested in financial assets, not factories.

    Of course, new technologies are unlikely to provide the jobs necessary to be helpful. The reverse will be true.

    To avoid this dystopian scenario governments need to highly tax the wealthy, inherited wealth and democratize the workplace. For if democracy is to mean anything it must be an economic system having little to do with party politics.

  8. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ WURA
    We are building houses for the people. Pray tell how anybody working for $250 per week can pay $800 per month for a two bedroom house.
    Pray tell how anybody working for $300 per week can afford $1100 per month mortgage.
    Yet with these realities, we have some on BU opposing a minimum wage that will give the workers $340 per week.
    Even with joint incomes of $2000 per month , such housing is out of reach.
    It is therefore obvious that unless we pay workers a proper wage, they will find even basic home ownership difficult.
    When pen is put to paper ,with bus fares at their current levels , and an ever rising cost of living, we see the need to reform how the country is managed.
    We think that these houses will end up being owned by speculators as rental properties.

  9. David Avatar
    David

    BMA: Proposed minimum wage will create major headache for small businesses – BMA: Proposed minimum wage will create major headache for small businesses: https://barbadostoday.bb/2021/03/27/bma-proposed-minimum-wage-will-create-major-headache-for-small-businesses/

  10. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    A naive position if one considers that in our system of government the haves control the vote.

  11. David Avatar
    David

    @NO

    It will be interesting to see how it plays out. The blogmaster is hopeful the decision does not trigger an excess labour situation. Anybody who took a stroll through Bridgetown this week would have been struck by the lack of traffic in the stores/businesses. One does not have to be an accountanr to understand what is the biggest expense item on the P&L.

  12. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    angela cox March 27, 2021 11:00 AM #: “Your answer lies in how much the employee makes per week and what is the percentage take out on the weekly or monthly salary for govt. The long and short being that income tax would be applied.”

    My friend, YOU ARE WRONG.

    You have a penchant for commenting on issues of which you’re not knowledgeable and your refusal to do a bit of research, causes you to post erroneous or misleading comments to BU.

    The income tax threshold is currently $25,000 per annum, which means people earning a monthly salary of up to $2,084 or $480.77 weekly, are exempted from PAYING income tax.

    Since $8.50 per hour works out to be $340 per week, $1,474 monthly or $17,680 per annum is BELOW the threshold, ……….. how the hell could “income tax withdrawal be applied or ‘government’ squeeze more taxation out of the people?”

  13. David Avatar
    David

    @Artax

    Attempted to give her a heads up in the reply to John2 who wickedly asked a question to set her up but we know she is too hard headed to take a cue.

  14. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    @ David BU

    Angela Cox does not THINK rationally or rely on facts to debate an issue.

  15. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Again.

    What criteria is used to determine minimum wage in Barbados ?

  16. David Avatar
    David

    @Hants

    As explained in the blog the calculus how the technocrats determined the $8.50 was not made public. We have an understanding what are the inputs used to inform the number but how it is weighted for Barbados is an unknown.

  17. David Avatar
    David

    ON THE MINIMUM WAGE ISSUE
    A minimum hourly rate IS NOT a minimum wage. Most hourly paid employees are paid by the week. Salaried people are usually paid by the month.
    The minimum wage of the worker is still going to be hourly rate times hours worked. From that there will be statutory and other deductions. Hopefully there may be also be additional benefits such as gratuities, service charge, tips, performance or other bonuses.
    With the assumption that every worker needs to provide wholly or partly for accomomdation, food, clothing, transportation, family support and maintenance,water, electricity, and at least minimum savings it is very easy for a government to determine what it considers a MINMUM WAGE that will sustain a normal worker.In a workforce of 180, 000 or thereabouts, a large body comprise that workforce that will be imacted by minimum wages.They are the ones presumably who will be targeted for the $800 to $1, 000 per month houses, the housing estates and chattel house dwellers in every parish in our island. This is a large number of the voting population.
    Most of the income earned by these workers is spent on consumption . Characteristically these are hardworking , godfearing church going people, who at the same time go to watch cricket, go to the races, love cropover and are Bajan to the bone.
    What is all the drama about the minimum wage? Why does Andrew Bynoe believe he can go to the press and make a statement about the minimum hourly rate when all he has to do is to apply it at his workplace? Sometime ago Mr Bynoe suggested some admiration for the Cuban system. THE IS NOTHING TO PREVENT MR BYNOE FROM SITTING WITH THE UNION AND NEGOTIATING WHAT HE THINKS IS FIT.I have had the privilege of negotiating against Mr Bynoe and his family team. They are a principled and tough team. I am trying to understand what game he is playing at.
    Then, the Government does not use the Social Partnership to negotiate a new hourly minimum rate! It does not use the traditional committee that negotiates a minimum wage. It sets up a Commission . Was a trade unionist on the Commission? FURORE ERUPTS. BOTH THE UNION AND THE EMPLOYERS START SPOUTING. MOORE WANT MORE. CLARKE AND THE EMPLOVERS WANT MORE TIME.
    We wait to see where this will go. Everyone understands that one wage rate change will send presure right up the wage structure. For those who think that wages and salaries do not have a huge impact on the economy and that their determination is based on the rules of games of dominoes or cricket I advise them to think again. Compensation and productivity are lynchpins for a vibrant economy and society. We expect that the Government, the Unions and the Private Sector will settle this matter amicably and expeditiously. There is no time to be wasted in this matter.

    Source: Retired trade unionist Robert Morris (Facebook)

  18. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David
    Yes, that has been generally true. However our point is that more consolidation of wealth gives further political control to a.smaller subset of people.

    This obviously has implications for socalled democracy if one still thinks .that voting is an effective mechanism to change anything.

    On the Bobby Morris article. His ideas are so predicated on the existence of a union as pretend broker nothing else can be seen. Even in a situation when government action, not anything that the unions have done or could do, is required.

  19. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @David
    just some feather fluffing, I doubt it will have a highly negative impact. The challenge is not usually at the minimum level, but the knock on effect, at lower levels above minimum. It is the smaller enterprises who feel this hit; at times because they are not the best managers. The fall out in other locales have been around hrs/wk vs $/hr. Hence the large P/T work forces.

  20. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “@ WURA
    We are building houses for the people. Pray tell how anybody working for $250 per week can pay $800 per month for a two bedroom house.
    Pray tell how anybody working for $300 per week can afford $1100 per month mortgage.”

    always a FAKE HOUSING SOLUTION…it’s a set up….even if by some miracle the people find a way to pay mortgage or rent, they will NEVER GET THE TITLE DEEDS….it’s a fraudulent scam, meant to keep the population in generational poverty.to benefit the greedy.

    ..the population have to move away from these dangerous politicians and minorities or they will get nowhere, just as they have in the last 60 years.

    If the people don’t see that it’s time to GO BLACK and REMOVE THEMSELVES out of the orbit of these toxic politicans and their minority sidekicks to survive and give their currrent and future generations a fighting chance, they never will…

    just the fact that Mia tried to stop abused workers for fighting for their right to their severance and salaries, under the guise of HOW BAD IT LOOKS… is an indication of how desperate the wicked government is in trying to keep them in slave like conditions.

  21. David Avatar
    David

    Aim for high-tech investors
    With Government set to implement an $8.50 per hour national minimum wage on Thursday, Barbados could lose much of its low-tech offshore companies to cheaper jurisdictions, says head of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), Dr Don Marshall.
    However, the head of The University of the West Indies think tank said this was not necessarily a bad thing as it sets a marker as to the type of higherend investment that Barbados must now be focused on attracting.
    He said the minimum wage issue was not likely to impact the offshore international finance sector, as the market determining rate obtains in that sector all over the world and they normally pay top dollar for their professionals.
    “In the area that one would refer to as low-tech work, such as data entry and so on, the norm has been that one of the ways you attract that type of investment is to have low wages. We don’t necessarily need to rely on that strategy in order to woo low-tech work. I think the nature of where we want to go as a country, as an economy and as a society is to bid for work that is higher up the international production chain,” said Marshall.
    He argued that with COVID-19 leaving workers quite vulnerable, Government’s decision to draw the line in the sand at this time was critical, as it sets the bar for both the local and offshore business sector for what is a decent wage. He said Government must not waver in this endeavour, even at the expense of losing some types of businesses.
    “Our wage level will make us less attractive to these offshore low-tech companies, but I do not believe that Barbados should continue in a race to the bottom with low wages and incentive schemes to woo this type of investment. We have to make it clear what is the industrial policy of our country going forward,” Marshall said.
    Competitive
    He said his argument was not without precedent, as Barbados had attracted high-end offshore businesses in the past and could do so again once efforts were made to ensure that the country was competitive in productivity and quality.
    “We have to find ways to improve our technology platform and we have to strive to be competitive in the quality of work that we produce. We have had some high-end technology companies in the past having aspects of their work done here and they paid decent wages. So this is not something that is beyond us.” (CLM)

    Source: Nation

  22. David Avatar
    David

    Good news for the teachers who were denied their money.

    Teachers’ docked pay restored
    Five years after having their salaries docked for attending two meetings called by their union, more than 480 members of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) will finally receive their proportional pay.
    BUT president Pedro Shepherd informed the teachers on Friday via a live press statement on its YouTube channel that they had scored the victory over what he called the “unfair practice”.
    In 2017, the union took the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation to court, seeking restoration of the monies deducted from hundreds of teachers after they had attended meetings at the BUT’s Merry Hill, Welches, St Michael headquarters on April 29 and in Queen’s Park on May 4 to discuss grievances.
    The action was taken after the union’s leadership had repeatedly sought meetings with then Minister of Education Ronald Jones to discuss issues such as the poor state of schools, the lack of resources and general issues impacting education.
    Two meetings
    “You will recall that in 2016, the Ministry of Education saw it fit to dock the pay of teachers for attending two meetings called by their representative union. That case had been going on since 2017,” Shepherd said.
    “I’m pleased to report that our lawyer is in receipt of a letter from the Solicitor General which states that the Ministry of Education has repaid the proportional repayment of salaries for teachers who attended the meeting with the Barbados Union of Teachers in 2016.
    “There are some 483 cheques which were generated and batched for dissemination through registered mail via the Post Office. So, teachers, within the next few days you should be receiving your abatement of salary, your return of the docked pay.”
    Fifty-four teachers, who have since retired or died are included among them, although there may be a “difference in payment” as they were not in the payment system.
    Thanking members for their support then, Shepherd said the BUT looked forward to their continuing support.
    “Do not let issues of docking of pay and those things prevent you from giving full support to your union.
    “We always make the point that there is strength in numbers and if we rally and we unite together we can fight any battle,” he said.
    (GBM)


    Source: Nation

  23. David Avatar
    David

    $10 minimum wage bad move at this time
    I smiled when I read a comment from Andrew Bynoe, managing director of A1 Supermarkets captioned, Bynoe Suggests $10 Minimum Wage.
    His comment was not supported by any economic analysis, theory or evidence but one wonders if it was plucked from a hat to create news. It is similar in thought, though not identical, with other comments made by other people, including the leader of the Barbados Workers’ Union.
    The suggestion for a high minimum wage of $10, or anywhere above $8.50, in an economy battered by COVID-19, with an extremely high unemployment rate and deep recession, is irresponsible in 2021.
    I heard the Prime Minister, Mia Amor Mottley, carefully outline in the Estimates the problems facing this economy, including the need to borrow heavily, depressed tax revenues, rising expenditures, etcetera, etcetera. In this COVID environment, Barbados cannot afford to have a high minimum wage as suggested by Bynoe, which would generate further unemployment, or create the opportunity for increased prices by struggling businessmen. I doubt any businessman in Barbados would agree with Bynoe’s proposal.
    But his lack of research bothers me in a critical society. For example, the average wage rate in the hotel sector based on Government survey data is $9.5 per hour, and the actual minimum wage paid is $6.97. The “minimum wage rate” of $10 recommended by Bynoe is higher than both of these. This implies that all wages of lower-income groups in the private sector would have to be adjusted upwards to maintain parity with his minimum wage rate. An economy in deep recession cannot afford such a luxury.
    The moral of my story is that an analysis of an economy cannot be based on one or two variables or anecdotal arguments. Sir Arthur Lewis once said that development cannot take place in a capitalist economy unless there is an increase in the rate of profit in the national income. In this context, the real wage in the private sector cannot be set too high, which makes sense particularly during a very deep recession fighting with the ghost of COVID-19.
    Lewis’ analysis implies that Government expenditure should be the principal catalyst in the distribution of income and alleviating poverty.
    – Professor Michael Howard

  24. David Avatar
    David

    Cox: Tax system can help pay basic wage
    By Tony Best A national minimum wage designed to help eliminate poverty in Barbados was an absolute necessity and should be introduced.
    But the level of the wage should be based on a fundamental principle that it should be sufficient to prevent people who are receiving it from living in poverty. Just as important, Government should consider the feasibility of using its tax system to help pay for the mandated basic wage, a move that could ease the financial burden on the private sector, especially small businesses.
    That recommendation came from Winston Cox, a former Barbados Central Bank Governor, who said although the pros and cons of the issue were currently being debated, it was clear the country had already “reached a national consensus” on it, What was unresolved was the level of pay, he said.
    “Any society that wishes to address the elimination of poverty should have a minimum wage,” he insisted. “In very large countries, it may vary on a regional basis but in a society as small as Barbados you can fix a national minimum wage. The level should be such that anybody working for the statutory number of hours in the workweek should not be (living) below the poverty line. In other words, when people work for the statutory workweek, say 40 hours, and earn a minimum wage, you should not remain below the poverty line,” he said.
    Different ways
    He said there were different ways of addressing the problem of people living below the poverty line, including the use of the tax system.
    “If you have a very efficient tax administration system, like some Scandinavian countries, I don’t see why it can’t be imitated in a country as small as Barbados and as digitally advanced as Barbados,” Cox said.
    “If you set a minimum wage that is below the poverty line, then automatically people would get a tax credit that would bring them up above the issue of the unfunded mandate on the private sector,” suggested the former Governor. “By using the (tax) mechanism, the Government would be saying to taxpayers that they are paying part of the burden and the private sector the other.”
    Cox, a former top economic and financial adviser to two of Barbados’ Prime Ministers and Ministers of Finance before being made head of the Central Bank, did not recommend a specific minimum wage because, in his words, he was “too far removed from the details of the measurement of the poverty line and those kinds of important details” that were needed to be determine what the pay should be.
    Increase productivity
    However, he said: “Those who support the minimum wage argue that it would increase productivity because wage earners would be contented and more productive,” he said.
    He added: “It would increase economic activity and people would have more income to spend on their needs, including education and on things that would improve their quality of life. At the same time it would reduce employee turnover.”
    On the other hand, he noted that minimum wage opponents would insist that yes, the government sets it but the private sector, the employers, have “to pay it”. In their eyes, it would be an “unfunded mandate that was passed by the government but shifted onto private employers, Cox said.
    “Whenever you talk about a minimum wage, you get the red flag, you are going to lose jobs, it is not affordable to the private sector, especially the small businesses,” he added. “But any society that wishes to address the elimination of poverty should have a national minimum wage.”
    Cox said that on minimum wage issues the government was usually left in the middle between two sides – the private sector and the labour unions.
    “The government is usually left to reconcile the two sides, so that at the end of the day the better outcome would be a national consensus on the idea of a minimum wage and on the level of the wage,” he said. “I think in Barbados there is a consensus on the idea of the wage. What it means is that half of the work has been completed while the other half is to decide the level of the wage.”
    He said Barbados must establish what the poverty line in the country is.
    “A minimum wage is an important social engineering tool,” he added.
    Barbados is set to introduce a minimum wage of $8.50 an hour, up from $6.50 established under the Shops Act, from April 1.
    Chairman of the Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA), Edward Clarke, on behalf of his membership, on Friday said it should be pushed back to January 2022.
    He said “the timing is way off”, considering the economic turmoil that Barbados had experienced and the downturn in business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    Barbados Workers’ Union general secretary Toni Moore had earlier noted that the $8.50 was insufficient.

    Source: Nation

  25. David Avatar
    David

    SHORT-CHANGED
    Report: Some still being paid below 2012 rate of $6.25 per hour
    By Shawn Cumberbatch
    shawncumberbatch@nationnews.com
    Some Barbadian workers due a higher wage since 2012 have reportedly been short-changed by their employers.
    The Blue-Ribbon Advisory Committee On The Establishment Of A National Minimum Wage, chaired by former Chief Justice Sir David Simmons, said it was made aware of this while carrying out its mandate.
    It is now urging the authorities to ensure there is no repeat when a national minimum wage is implemented.
    After being convened in December, the committee submitted its 71-page report dated January 27, 2021, to Minister of Labour and Social Partnership Relations Colin Jordan.
    The ministry then issued a Minimum Wage (National And Sectoral Minimum Wage) Order, 2021, outlining the intention to set the overall national minimum wage at $8.50 per hour ($340 per week), and $9.25 per hour ($370 weekly) for security guards.
    These were the rates recommended by the committee headed by Sir David, which also suggested that the national minimum wage be effective April 1, and “should be reviewed in 2022 and every three years thereafter”.
    The recommendation of an increased minimum wage came against what the committee said was “empirical evidence” of a 20.9 per cent increase in the cost of living between 2012 and 2018.
    Veteran trade unionists The Most Honourable Patrick Frost and Joseph Goddard, former private sector head Sir Allan Fields, human resources specialist John E.D. Williams and businesswoman Marcia Martindale were the other committee members.
    They recommended that “prior to the implementation of a national minimum wage, the Government should undertake a programme of public education”.
    “In 2015 and 2017, there were important legislative changes widening the definitions of ‘shop’ and ‘shop assistant’ or creating the new definition of ‘national minimum wage’. In addition, in 2020, Parliament enacted the Employment (Prevention Of Discrimination) Act 2020 to protect persons from discrimination related to employment,” the report said.
    “We are not satisfied that many employers and employees are conversant with these definitions or the suite of legislation. Indeed, we were made aware that some employers are still paying employees below the 2012 rate of $6.25 per hour.
    BEC survey
    “In those circumstances, we urge the Minister, before making a Minimum Wage Order, to endeavour to ensure that employers and employees are not only made aware of the new requirements of that law but also the others to which we have alluded.
    The report referenced a Barbados Employers’ Confederation (BEC) minimum wage survey in 2020 when the BEC’s 248 members were asked: “What is the lowest hourly rate in your organisation?”
    There were 136 responses, with 48 of the companies (35 per cent of respondents) indicating that their lowest paid employees were remunerated at an hourly rate between $6.25 and $8. Some 13 employers paid $6.25 or lower, including three that paid $6 per hour.
    The committee said it considered proposals from the Manpower Research and Statistical Unit of the Ministry of Labour and Social Partnership Relations and the Minimum Wage Board committee.
    It also met with various groups, including the trade union movement and business community, and examined the views of economists Professors Andrew Downes and Michael Howard.
    “All of the interviewees accepted that compliance and enforcement of the national minimum wage are two matters that are crucial to the success or otherwise of the implementation of a national minimum wage.
    “We are not unmindful that there are provisions dealing with compliance and enforcement in the Minimum Wage Act, 2017. Nevertheless, we urge the Minister to strengthen the relevant department with responsibility for these matters to ensure that the provisions of the law are respected,” the report said.
    The other recommendations were:
    • Government must take urgent steps to strengthen the institutions which collect data relating to employment to ensure that such data is always current and reliable and in a proper state to inform decision-making.
    • Government should develop a legislative programme aimed at incorporating into domestic law, two important International Labour Organisation conventions, which have been ratified by Barbados, viz. Convention C100 – Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 and Convention C111 – Discrimination (Employment And Occupation) Convention, 1958. Another important convention that has not been ratified, however, is Convention C175 – Part-time Work Convention, 1994.
    The committee said it opted against the recommendation “that the duration of the national minimum wage should exceed one year at this time”.
    “The uncertainty surrounding Barbados’ fiscal and economic position and COVID-19 as well as similar phenomena affecting our key trading partners means that disequilibrium will remain a live reality. No immediate relief from the depressed global environment is easily foreseeable,” it explained.
    “We think, therefore, that it is a counsel of prudence not to speculate about a minimum wage rate too far into the future and recommend phased rates in the years succeeding 2021. There are too many variables and imponderables.”

    Source: Nation

  26. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “Veteran trade unionists The Most Honourable Patrick Frost and Joseph Goddard, former private sector head Sir Allan Fields, human resources specialist John E.D. Williams and businesswoman Marcia Martindale were the other committee members.”

    the first three are all well known crooks who have kept the workers lowpaid and stagnated for 60 years…..and as for that one Simmons…he has a lot to answer for…and if he thinks that he won’t….well, our ancestors say otherwise.

  27. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    I’ve read a contribution in which its author converted a minimum hourly rate of BD$10 to US$5, as the basis to suggest it “is peanuts in comparison for the same work in the USA.”

    The individual also informed BU “the USA was debating US$15 per hour minimum wage” for a variety of employment categories he listed.

    Is he implying Barbados’ minimum hourly rate should be $15 per hour?

    If so, then, wouldn’t converting BD$15 to US dollars, provide him with another basis upon which to argue US$7.50 is “peanuts” as well, especially when compared with the “USA debating US$15 per hour?”

    Or, is he suggesting the authorities should set the minimum wage at BD$30 per hour (US$15), which works out to $62,400 per annum ($240 per day, $1,200/week, $5,200/month)?

  28. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    And as for this other crook, none of the problems of parasites have anything to do with workers who are unable to adequately feed themselves and their families and haven’t for DECADES, they can go to hell and shut shop, let Black businesses rise from that ashes…the TIMING IS RIGHT TO RID BLACK LIVES OF ALL OF THEM..

    “Chairman of the Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA), Edward Clarke, on behalf of his membership, on Friday said it should be pushed back to January 2022.
    He said “the timing is way off”, considering the economic turmoil that Barbados had experienced and the downturn in business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

  29. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    This is what these thieves HAVE ALWAYS DONE…as soon as they were no longer the SLAVE PATROL…people are unable to survive in a healthy economic environment let alone this challenging one and all that savage can think about is making them suffer until 2022 which gives minority crooks on the island all the time they need to SABOTAGE ANY MINIMUM WAGE..and raise prices to uncomfortable levels…with the help of a corrupt government.

    “While politicians and lawyers involved in these activities proudly wallow in self-reverence. Dr. Don Marshall, Director of a University of the West Indies think tank, the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies brought it all into focus, as he editorialized with emphasis in Barbadostoday newspaper that since achieving independence in 1966, both governments have consistently up to this day failed Black businesses. He further implored current lawmakers to strive to break the cycle and asserted that people have always suffered at the hands of minorities who use the centuries-old classless colonial tactic of inhibiting Black progress to their advantage.” Copyright ⓒ 2021. All Rights Reserved.

  30. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    This is how the capitalist system survives. It perpetuates the myth that Barbados needs a larger labour force. It is looking for a never ending flow of a cheap, disposable and exploitable workforce.

    There is a solution to this. The school system should be revamped. One day a week should be given over to entrepreneurialism. At the end of the five year period each student should have the foundation to start a business.
    Some of the most successful entrepreneurs started their business empire whilst they were at school.

    A young child from a farming family learns more about life and business then they would throughout their school life.

    Someone who has a trade can easily combine with other trades to set up their own community business.

    If an employer cannot pay a living wage salary then they should be forbidden to employ workers.

  31. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    I read somewhere that Maloney had not increased his workers’ salaries in over ten years at his so-called concrete plant.

    Is this possible?

    Any savings made perhaps helped him pay for his son’s motor racing ambitions.

  32. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Michael Howard is as guilty of rejecting the very analysis which he charges Bynoe.

    Certainly, there could be a mountain of evidence supporting or rejecting a much higher minimum wage level. These would include productivity.

    Bynoe has not spent his life being a researcher. And though we hold no particular respect for him, it should be Howard who would have been expected to supply the significant brain muscle to the table. He has not.

  33. David Avatar
    David

    @PAcha

    Bynoe has experienced what academics have not not least of which is achieving professorship by attending the university of business.

    @TLSN

    When you cultivate and grow the entrepreneur class how will they make money? Not in the very capitalist system you rail about on the blog? Assist us to understand, please!

  34. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    I don’t see why that idea cannot work. Stop working for people for starvation wages and do our own thing!

    And support our own!

    What’s so hard about that???

    I would never buy another piece of junk furniture as I did before. There is a very good joiner up here.

    Told my son to sit on cushions on the floor if he ever needed to, save even if in a sou sou and order good custom made furniture from a joiner that would last a lifetime!

    Stupid cheap sandals that women buy could easily be replaced by good leather sandals from local craftsmen. The local craftsmen need to up their game! Why are we buying stupid cosmetic jewelry from abroad? Local craftspeople need to up their game. Beautiful jewelry can be made from seeds etc.

    Why do we buy stupid china ornaments from abroad and mass produced pictures of foreign scenery for our walls!

    We have local artists!

    Why are we buying substandard clothing from abroad? And much of it unsuitable for this climate???

    Why do we buy expensive honey from abroad?

    I could go on and on and on!

    It crept up on us stealthily this substitution of inferior mass produced crap from abroad!

    But we have people who do good stuff here! We need more of them and we need customers who are open to them.

    Time for a reset! I did it a while ago. I am setting the tone for my son.

  35. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    In reference to one blogger respond explains/ clarifying that workers receiving the paltry wages implemented by govt
    So happy to the hear that at the end of the 40 hr work week no income taxes are deducted from the paltry income which can account to be around 340bds dollars
    Having said the above the rate still will include NIS withdrawal which brings the amount to substandard living at a level not sufficient to meet the daily cost of other living expenses

  36. David Avatar
    David

    @Donna

    Of course it can work, in theory given the domestic situation. Do you recall in the 90s there was an explosion in mom and pop printers? Do you recall how the establishment responded. We have to strip away at the root cause, only then will the entrepreneurial class grow and be able to sustain itself.

  37. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    The entrepreneurial class would never grow to high or sustainable levels in Barbados because govt over the years has provided financial support for outside interest to help develop Barbados
    Rather than using the same foundation of support towards home grown interest
    Recent outburst from groups like the rastafarians on the cannabis issue speaks volumes as to whose interest govt rather serves

  38. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    angela cox March 28, 2021 7:54 AM #: “Having said the above the rate still will include NIS withdrawal which brings the amount to substandard living at a level not sufficient to meet the daily cost of other living expenses.”

    My friend, you need THINK and desist from posting shiite. Then, some ‘jackass keyboard warrior’ would come out to ‘throw stones from the sidelines,’ while’ telling’ you “spot on, you’re correct” or people engage in the “gotcha game” because their primary focus is to prove you wrong, rather than encouraging you to present credible information to BU.

    An individual who currently works for $250 per week, pays $27.75 towards the NIS, leaving him/her with net $222.25.

    If she/he earns $340, then, their contribution to NIS is $37.74, leaving him/her with $302.26.

    Also, I haven’t read any contribution in which its author has indicated $340 per week is an adequate wage.

    So, what exactly is your point? What are you trying to achieve by participating in a discussion of an issue you clearly don’t know anything about and arguing just for the sake of it.

  39. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “I read somewhere that Maloney had not increased his workers’ salaries in over ten years at his so-called concrete plant.

    Is this possible?”

    very possible and would PAY BRIBES to achieve that…and the bribes would be happily accepted by sellouts.

  40. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ et all
    We knew it was only a matter of time before “ just so” or “ abracadabra “economics reach centre stage.
    Yep. Alice and Alex in wonderland.
    There is no magic wand.
    A diet of regional economic garbage is now on its way to the toilet where it belongs.
    This will be no easy task and it cannot be achieved by bogus argument. Of course we have both the manpower and brain power to turn the entire region around but it calls for more.
    Reforming an economic system or restructuring an economy goes way beyond band aid solutions.
    It really depends on what we are “putting in the heads of our beautiful little children “ from Kingstown to Carries to Bridgetown.
    We say no more. Time to sit back and watch the magic show. But, after the show was over………..,

  41. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    @Donna 7:51 a.m.
    I like that post.
    It really speaks to a change of mindset and if practiced would ensure employment for some and keep dollars within the community.

  42. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    What is the inflation rate in Barbados ?
    For what it is worth can 8.50 when applied reach the substantial cost of living for the lower wage earner
    That 8.50 is nothing more than a smoke and mirror approach to the economic realities that are affecting the barbadian household
    Cant imagine that with a out of control inflation rate that would continue to rise how 8.50 can be of an long time gain for the low income worker
    As inflation rises so does the income of every working stiff decreases to poverty levels
    Again what is the inflation rate inclusive of taxes and govt implemented measures to garnish revenue eroding wages earned

  43. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    UWI has a one year online entrepreneurial course….adults as well as the young should find a way to make use of that, and as a springboard to outside online courses available at top as well as other universities….while building their businesses within their communities…

  44. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Curious.. Can you suggest a minimum rate?
    Let us move to the stage of comparing your numbers and theirs.
    I swear I already know your answer… wiggle

  45. David Avatar
    David

    To repeat: calculating a nation minimum wage has to factor many variables. It is not a simple exercise. Getting it wrong will defeat the purpose it is meant to satisfy.

  46. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Artax
    It seems that u are so offended that my showing that they are variables inclusive in the paltry 8.50 per hour
    Spot on or off
    Transparency is the calling card and all that matters
    Taxes. fees Insurance all wrapped up in that paltry increase and which is of relevance to the bottom line received in the workers earnings
    You can holler and provided all the blow back yuh want
    Meanwhile i would asked questions foolish or otherwise
    Stand guard fool soldier
    Meanwhile i would stand my ground
    The effect it has on your rushing foward helps to provide a method of balance whereby the truth becomes necessary
    Btw what is the inflation rate in barbados
    Help me with that question

  47. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Correction – costume jewelry.

  48. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Read and reread the 5:59 a.m. post until you get it.
    No comments from me, but I should have cut and pasted the whole article here.

    “The report referenced a Barbados Employers’ Confederation (BEC) minimum wage survey in 2020 when the BEC’s 248 members were asked: “What is the lowest hourly rate in your organisation?”
    There were 136 responses, with 48 of the companies (35 per cent of respondents) indicating that their lowest paid employees were remunerated at an hourly rate between $6.25 and $8. Some 13 employers paid $6.25 or lower, including three that paid $6 per hour.”

  49. David Avatar
    David

    The BEC does not cover the market.

  50. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    angela cox March 28, 2021 10:03 AM #: “What is the inflation rate in Barbados?”
    “Cant imagine that with a out of control inflation rate that would continue to rise how 8.50 can be of an long time gain for the low income worker.”

    Let’s ignore the $8.50 for the time being and focus on your references to the inflation rate. At December 31, 2019, Barbados’ inflation rate was reported to be 4.1% and by December 31, 2020, it was 2.9%.

    Taking those figures into consideration, upon what basis did you assumed the “inflation rate was out of control?”

The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.

Trending

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading