Ministry to crack down on non-compliant employers

The Ministry of Labour will be cracking down on employers who do not comply with the law relating to wages, hours of work and conditions of employment.

Notice of this came last Thursday from Minister of Economic Planning, Sustainable Development, Industry, Information and Labour Camillo Gonsalves, as he addressed the official launch of the 2016 Wages Councils at the Peace Memorial Hall.{{more}}

“I intend to pursue increased activity in the investigation and the enforcement of potential breaches of the law, as well as greater education of workers, as to their own rights and responsibilities,” Gonsalves stated.

He also said that workplace violations will be investigated and dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.

The minister said increased vigilance will also be placed on employers’ data collection and their obligations in relation to record keeping and respecting workers.

“The Department of Labour is also working assiduously on standards and legislation to govern issues related to occupational safety and health in the workplace,” the minister disclosed.

Gonsalves noted that the creation of more quality jobs and having decent wages is directly correlated to Government’s objective to reduce poverty in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

He stated that since 2001, roughly 8,000 jobs have been created and data from the census and the National Insurance Services (NIS) shows that there are more active employees and employers than any other time in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“A necessary precursor to this redoubled focus on job creation and anticipated growth in employment is the completion of another wages council exercise.

“An increase in the minimum wage, as advocated by the Prime Minister, and as a likely outcome of this Wages Council exercise is a complex exercise with implications on poverty reduction, fiscal policy, consumer prices and the investment decisions of the private sector,” he continued.

The minister pointed out that many may argue statistically that with low to no inflation, there is nothing to sufficiently merit an upward increase of minimum wage.

“However, we believe that an increase in the minimum wage, soberly considered and properly implemented can have a positive impact on the conditions of workers and our overall poverty reduction thrust.”

He explained that an increase in minimum wage had the potential to increase demand by putting money back in the pockets of low income consumers and also stimulate the economy.

“Strengthening the minimum wage can conceivably help build a sustainable economic recovery without increasing cost for taxpayers beyond the taxes that you will pay on your increased salary,” Gonsalves said.

Noting that sometimes a higher minimum wage increases unemployment if employers want to keep their wage bill constant, Gonsalves said the minimum wage should not be set so high as to markedly increase unemployment, drive workers into the informal sector or encourage non-compliance by employers.

“In those circumstances you find yourself with a high minimum wage on the books, but very few people actually earning the prescribed minimum wage.”

Chair of the Wages Council Lloyd Small explained that the Wages Council is a machinery set up by the Government through which the minimum wages can be fixed and reviewed for workers employed in certain trades or groups of industries.

He said the members of the various Wages Councils are expected to be fair and reasonable in their deliberations and with the final wages proposal sent to Government.

“We must be able to have a win, win situation between the tripartite grouping.”

Small said during deliberation, the councils are usually faced with several complex and social considerations they must consider when fixing minimum wage.

“There are growing regional and global economic considerations that we have to be faced with. We have to look at Government’s policy as it relates to wages, employment and prices…we have to look at low levels of productivity in the state, high unemployment and trade liberalization.”

Small said that the council will be holding discussions throughout St Vincent and the Grenadines to solicit the views of Vincentians; there will also be “cautious and serious dialogue” with the businesses in order to maintain inflation when salaries increase.

“I would like the caution the business people, especially the Chamber [of Commerce] and the Employers Federation, that what we are seeing when there is an increase in wages, be it from the public sector or the trade unions negotiating, what we’re seeing is that we have a wage price spiral. In other words, prices go up as wages are increased.”

Former Wages Council chair Joseph ‘Burns’ Bonadie also made remarks at the launch of the councils.(CM)