Wage review urged amid questions over its existence

By Emmanuel Joseph

The nation’s largest public-sector union has thrown its weight behind a call from a sister union to reopen talks on the national minimum wage while questions linger about the very existence of an official pay floor.

The National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) has expressed solidarity with the stance taken last week by the Barbados Workers’ Union’s general secretary, Toni Moore, who voiced her grievances on the floor of the House of Assembly, highlighting the Minimum Wage Board’s stagnation over the past three years. She emphasised that the existing wage served merely as a starting point and urged for comprehensive discussions on its revision.

Despite asserting that the minimum wage doesn’t directly impact public employees due to their distinct salary scales, NUPW General Secretary Richard Greene backed Moore’s call, suggesting the need for consistent wage reviews to prevent workers from falling behind inflation.

“The NUPW supports the call by the Barbados Workers’ Union for a relook or revision of the minimum wage from the point of view that there needs to be a consistent review of salaries and wages so that workers are not victimised or fall behind the rate of inflation in maintaining part of their spending power,” Greene told Barbados TODAY.

“We have recognised that during the last 15 to 20 years, where public servants are concerned, there has not been a consistent review of salaries and wages with the requisite increases.”

“The gap between the increases,” he said, “became too wide and would have led to workers’ wages falling behind, especially in an environment of high inflation. So, we would support a call for the consistent review of wages and salaries in line with the increase in the cost of living.

“It is not a direct public service matter, because the public service already has its scales, but in terms of workers everywhere, we support the principle that workers, especially those at the lower end, that revision of a minimum living wage.”

But the trade union umbrella body, the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB), remains sceptical about whether a meaningful minimum wage even exists.

“I don’t share the view that there is a minimum wage,” CTUSAB General Secretary Dennis De Peiza told Barbados TODAY in an interview.

“There is a minimum wage applied to some sections of workers such as security guards and the current $8.25 basically applies to shop assistants, and that extends to include gas service attendants. But can you really call that a minimum wage because we have so many different sectors of workers.”

He added: “If you look at what salaries and wages are paid to the different categories of workers, certainly that figure you consider a minimum wage couldn’t be applicable. So, I would want to ask, do we really have a minimum wage?”

De Peiza pointed out the disparity across various sectors and called for a reassessment of how a minimum wage could be effectively determined.

The CTUSAB leader advocated for the re-establishment of the disbanded Productivity Council as a mechanism to evaluate job roles and establish a standardised minimum wage structure based on productivity measures.

“If there are no measurements, how do you come up with a criterion that can determine a standard minimum wage across the board?” he said.

“It would come out of a determination of a wage structure based on productivity measures. So, unless you have those, I can’t see how you could determine it as a minimum
wage.”

Amid the renewed focus on the minimum wage, the head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, James Clarke, said the business community would now have to discuss the matter before outlining a definitive position on any revision or increase.

Moore, while acknowledging the increase to $8.50 in April 2021 as a step forward, lamented an apparent slowing of momentum behind raising the national minimum wage, saying that the Minimum Wage Board has not met in the last three years.

The union leader and government backbencher said the 2021 increase was only a first step, and that despite the existence of a minimum wage board, no progress has been made in the last three years to correct a rate that was not good enough.

Moore said: “$8.50 was not good enough. It saddens me that three years on, April 1st would be three years that the minimum wage board has not met once to correct that minimum, and bring that minimum closer to a point where we could feel proud that the thunderous applause we gave when that was passed, is something that we would continue to make good on.

“The minimum wage has to be fixed. It was not good enough at $8.50 back in 2021, but it was recognised as a start. In 2024, the signal comes that if the minimum wage board can’t meet for whatever reason, dismantle that and get a fresh minimum wage board that will deliver for the workers of this country.”

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb