Too long to a minimum wage – Atherley

The Mia Mottley-led administration has been criticized for its tardiness in moving towards a National Minimum Wage.

And Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley has suggested that the recent announcement that a minimum wage would be in place by April next year was a ploy by the Prime Minister to silence the voices of workers.

“That it has taken a popularly-elected administration over 30 months to initiate commencement efforts to fulfil its promise in this regard is disappointing. That such an announcement emerges in the current circumstances is disturbing,” Atherley, the leader of the People’s Party for Democracy and Development (PdP) said in a press statement.

“The recent intervention by the Honourable Prime Minister must be seen for what it really was. It was an attempt to stem the rising current of spontaneous eruptions of protest by frustrated and disadvantaged workers. It represented more than an effort to deal with the G4S situation. It in fact, was more so an attempt to help the BWU [Barbados Workers’ Union] regain some of its fast diminishing credibility with workers, while at the same time subjecting the growing worker disposition to protest, by bringing it back within the control of union leadership.

“Was this episode really about workers’ interests or about reining in the dynamic of protest and industrial disquiet by seeking to re-assert union control and institutionalizing worker dissent?” he further queried.

Atherley said it should not have been a problem for Government to reach a common understanding with G4S, considering that company was contracted by Government to offer security services.

He contended that Mottley merely wanted to be seen as the saviour who ended the unrest between the BWU and G4S.

“Then, of course, there is the frequent occurrence of the Prime Minister seeking to embellish her image by allowing matters to reach a stage which affords her the opportunity to ride in like a White Knight to save the day.

“Clearly one would have thought that it would not have been beyond the capacity of Government to bring to Christian understanding a company which is afforded the opportunity and benefit of multiple contracts for security services to Government,” Atherley pointed out.

He said the PdP had repeatedly called for a “far better” deal for low-income workers.

Additionally, he said wage increases for police officers below the rank of Sergeant and Island Constables were also needed.

Atherley said while he supported the implementation of a minimum wage, it needed to take into account the high cost of living in Barbados.

“We stress that a minimum wage must be a meaningful living wage that bears reference to, among other things, cost of living. Of course, Government must be cognizant of how its own tax, duty and levy impositions escalate that cost of living as well as business cost,” Atherley said.

“In a real sense Barbados, which boasts lead position in several ways among our neighbours, trails several other Caribbean states in the matter of minimum wage legislation.” (RB)