In what will be seen as a reversal of an earlier position, President Irfaan Ali yesterday announced Cabinet’s approval of the recommendation for a $60,000 per month minimum wage.
Ali’s announcement came at at the 74th commemoration of the Enmore Martyrs at the Enmore Monument and only days after he had said that a “holistic” paper would have to be presented by Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton on the $60,000 minimum wage incorporating the views of the private sector.
The President did not mention the paper in his presentation yesterday. The announcement by the President came amid a charged exchange with GAWU President Seepaul Narine who in his address had called for the removal of the Chief Executive Officer of GuySuCo. This apparently incensed Ali and he then asked several questions of Narine with the intention of eliciting answers to show that the current problems of GuySuCo should be attributed to heavy rainfall and low cane replanting under the previous administration.
On June 3rd, the President had said that Hamilton had been tasked with presenting Cabinet with a holistic paper on the views of stakeholders on the implementation of the new national minimum wage.
Responding to a question from Stabroek News about the delay in the implementation of the proposed $60,000 minimum wage for the private sector, Ali said the minister has been consulting on the issue and is yet to table a full paper for discussion at Cabinet.
“He has not brought before cabinet the full paper to be discussed. You know the private sector had views on this issue. We asked the minister to have wide consultation to bring together the views of everyone then present a holistic paper. The minister still has that responsibility to bring a holistic paper,” Ali said.
The June 13th editorial in Stabroek News called for the $60,000 minimum to be approved as it noted that the views of the private sector had already been canvassed in the tripartite mechanism under the Ministry of Labour.