The Federation of Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) which has consistently advanced the improvement of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) welcomes the announcement by His Excellency President Irfaan Ali that the Cabinet had agreed to the adjustment of the NMW to $60,000 monthly. We recognised that the President stopped short of announcing the date of implementation though we expect that this will be clarified in the coming days.
The FITUG had long shared the view that the present NMW was woefully inadequate and there was a need for an upward adjustment. This became even more necessary given the spiralling cost-of-living which have largely been influenced by exogenous factors. Though we recognised and appreciated the efforts of the Government to bring relief to our citizens, we contended that the improvement in the NMW would be more meaningful.
As our low-earning workers await with bated breaths the implementation of the new wage we are hopeful that employers will be complaint. We would urge that the Ministry of Labour undertake appropriate sanitization activities to ensure that both employers and employees are aware of the changes. We are also expecting that no employer will advance the cry that it must reduce its workforce to implement the new NMW. Certainly, we believe, employers enjoyed an extended period of paying workers much less than they were deserving and attempts to address this situation should not be used to reduce employment.
The FITUG expects that in the period after the implementation of the NMW careful analysis be conducted on the effects of the new NMW. Certainly, there is always a need to ensure that our nation’s workers are not paid poverty wages, but they are able to meet the basis expectations of life in our rapidly developing country.
