BWU boss makes strong case for more ‘livable’ minimum wage

Barbados’ largest private sector trade union is not satisfied that a minimum wage proposal currently on the table constitutes a “livable wage” for hundreds of workers who are currently at, or below the poverty line.

General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) Toni Moore on Sunday evening declared that $8.50/hour is still “significantly below” the amount necessary for low income earners to live with dignity, despite the union’s willingness to use the figure as a starting point.

The labour leader has also slammed some players in the business community who fear that an across-the-board minimum wage, would severely affect their profits, which are already under pressure from the ongoing pandemic.

“For me, it is untenable and almost unimaginable that companies would be ready to admit that their means of survival resides only within their capacity to suppress the wages of workers at this point to $6.25 cents in the name of COVID-19. I would challenge those employers to go to supermarkets and try to spend $260 a week for a family of four…[in addition to looking at things like utilities and rent and so on]. I’ve always maintained that it is never the wrong time to do the right thing,” Moore declared, as she appeared on the latest edition of Barbados TODAY Pulse that examined the impact of COVID-19 on the labour market.

The General Secretary added that even ten years ago when the Shops Act was under review, $8.50/hour or $340/week was too low, as it accounted for a weekly rental bill of $65 and $25 in bus fare, which in her opinion are grossly unrealistic. At the time, policymakers settled on a minimum wage of $6.25/hour for shop assistants.

“I believe businesses have to figure out how we are not going to stick up at $8.50, because the Barbados Workers’ Union isn’t going to be about that, but we will see how we can start there and over the course of several years get the minimum wage to something that will be more liveable because if we don’t do that, we are going to see too many people ending up having to depend on social services,” Moore contended.

In response, the Executive Director of the Barbados Employers’ Confederation (BEC) Sheena Mayers-Granville argued that most employers acknowledge that $6.25/hour is too low. She however noted that over the last ten years the economic situation has been especially tough on businesses. This, she explained has been exacerbated by COVID-19.

“Somehow, people believe that all businesses have money and that is not the case. Businesses operate in the same environment in which we live, so there are some out there struggling for survival, and the concern is that some won’t make it and therefore, having the increase at this time, is a concern,” said the BEC executive.

“But as I said from the outset, there was the almost universal response that the minimum wage needed to be reviewed. The view of the business community has been that the last increase almost ten years ago has been too long. When you take nine to ten years to look at a minimum wage, you create a significant lag. If we had an approach that allowed for gradual increases, then that is a preferred approach. But when you are looking at a nine-year period and a situation that is unprecedented that comes with extreme economic pressure, businesses are going to be hard-pressed,” Mayers-Granville further explained.

Meanwhile, Minister of Labour and Social Partnership Relations Colin Jordan again declared the current minimum wage untenable, but added that the approach to demanding a more liveable wage would have to be gradual.

“We are cognisant of the fact that we are in a pandemic, and the pandemic is real and employers have challenges. All of that said, we recognize that coming out of the pandemic, the focus must be on people,” Jordan argued.

“There is never going to be a good time to increase any kind of cost for business, so a pandemic may be a challenging time, but even without [the pandemic], it still would not have been a good time. What I will say though is that there are quite a number of positives that will come out of an increase in the minimum wage,” he explained.

Among them, he added, is the increased income for lower level earners, which invariably would stimulate economic activity.   

“I want businesses to recognize that that money will be spent clearing bills for utilities, that money will be spent in paying rent or rent arrears, a lot of it will be spent in shops and minimarts, so that there will be an economic stimulus which will benefit almost all businesses across the board and I want us to look at it from that perspective,” the labour minister urged.
(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)