Employers Federation Supports Establishment of Minimum Wage Commission

With rising costs of living conditions having a toll on the citizenry, the St Lucia Employers Federation [SLEF] is supporting government’s plans to establish a Wage Commission. 

Commenting on the present spiraling prices of goods and commodities, Member of Parliament for Choiseul, Bradley Felix said that while the costs of goods are going up “people’s income are not going up …so if there was a sort of trade off with government implementing a minimum wage increase, maybe it could be justified”.

Minister of Labour Dr. Virgina Poyotte, recently told reporters that government implemented a ‘Livable Wage Mission’ that has been tasked with the duty of devising a framework for the sectorial-based livable wage system.

The SLEF is on that commission. It’s Executive Director Jerome Jules anticipates there will be a review of wages, through the provisions of legislation that guides the issue of minimum wages in Saint Lucia. He said the process has not been revised over a length of time.

“The work has started and it is in process …and if you want the commission to arrive at a fair and equitable minimum wage it will take some time , because we need to examine the data,” noted Jules .

“If the data is not currently available, then you need to generate that data and look at it and let it guide us, in terms of what would be the minimum wage in Saint Lucia.”

Jules explained that the commission is tasked to examine a minimum wage system for the island’s workforce.

For instance, he said, the minimum wage of a gas attendant would be different from someone working in the distribution sector, tourism sector or otherwise.

“So …given this mandate, the commission would not only be examining and arriving at a determination for a National Minimum Wage, but we shall also be looking at the sectorial minimum wages where we think that is applicable.”

The International Labour Organisataion [ILO] distinguishes that a minimum wage has only one rate applicable to all workers of a country, while a sectorial wage system is a structure to protect workers through collective agreements and the statutory minimum wage in low paying sectors where there are no collective bargaining measures present.

According to reports, in 2011, after consultation and due diligence, the Minimum Wage Report was presented to former Labour Minister Edmund Estephane and other stakeholders.

The report, developed by the Minimum Wage Commission using econometric and statistical information and processes, was seen as an indication to relay information to trade unions, employees, and employers on the lowest applicable wage due to a worker.

Citing the report, as an unprecedented undertaken for the region and the wider globe, Chairman of the Minimum Wage Commission Cyrus Reynolds said, the consultations “provided a full research methodology package to indicate how we arrived at what we did. We provided quite a lot of literature because we recognised what has been done in Saint Lucia is very much unprecedented; there is nothing like this report in the Caribbean and even outside the region.”

The Chairman of the Commission says research was conducted throughout the region and in other overseas territories to ensure that Saint Lucia was developing a Minimum Wage Report, although unique to the island, is in keeping with international labour laws and standards.

He added, “There are agencies very interested in our report because they do not have anything like it. Saint Lucia has presented a landmark project in this Minimum Wage Report.”

At Monday’s May Day Rally, the Labour Minister noted that it was important to sustain dialogue between the trade unions and the Public Service.

Dr. Poyotte asserted: “The prime minister has established the Minimum and Equity Wage Commission…and they have done quite a bit of work …and the prime minister has indicated that there must be dialogue between the workers and the stake holders, as well as, the employers”.

She added: “The commission has committed to go out there and engage the public, so that they buy into the issue of a minimum and equitable wage.”