Labour officials to intensify investigations into employers taking advantage of workers

By Jenique Belgrave

Moving to bring an end to “unscrupulous” companies paying workers less than a fair wage after securing public contracts, Government has announced minimum rates for all construction sector employees executing such projects.

Minister of Labour and Social Relations Colin Jordan disclosed on Friday that the rates for eight defined categories of workers will range from $8.50 per hour to $30 per hour.

“We really should not have to legislate good behaviour but the practices of some necessitate that Government acts to protect workers from unscrupulous employers who, in order to satiate their greed, would wish to deprive their workers of reasonable conditions of work,” Jordan said as he delivered a ministerial statement in the House of Assembly.

The new schedule takes into account job categories and skill type, tasks performed and the type of equipment used.

Category 1 is maid or flag person who must be paid no less than $8.50 per hour; Category 2 comprises general workers or pump assistants, not less than $11 per hour; Category 3 is Bobcat or small roller operators, not less than $14 per hour; Category 4 is welder or electrician Class B, not less than $16 per hour; Category 5 is Back hoe or low loader operator, not less than $19 per hour; Category 6 is Caterpillar D6 or bulldozer operator, not less than $23 per hour; Category 7 is workshop foreman or Komatsu 450 excavator operator, not less than $25 an hour; and Category 8 is Caterpillar D or Komatsu D 275 bulldozer operator, not less than $30 per hour.

The Labour Minister said the Barbados Workers’ Union and the Barbados Employers Confederation were consulted in setting the rates, in a process that started last October and concluded in January this year.

“Those entities worked together to draw information on wage rates from existing negotiated collective agreements in the sector and compiled these rates though a tripartite process of consultation and discussion with the Chief Labour Officer,” he said.

Jordan said the rates had to be set given reports of unfair labour practices in the construction sector in particular.

“This bad behaviour is what Bajans call unfairness and it must stop!”

Outlining one of the scenarios brought to the Labour Department’s attention, Jordan said: “Some of these entities and contractors, we are informed, practise a business model where workers are employed to transport material across the island, paid a rate which is below the national minimum, and are then told to complete a certain number of trips per day or per week in order to earn a reasonable wage that would enable them to meet or exceed the minimum wage.”

He called these practices “unacceptable” while outlining the regulations contained within Cap 349 of the Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Act which governs the construction industry.

Jordan said officials from the Labour Department and the NIS have been instructed to increase their investigations of these matters.

“I have given clear instructions to the Chief Labour Officer and the Director of National Insurance that their respective inspectorates must intensify their efforts to make sure that the workers of this country are protected and that employers adhere to the legislation,” he stressed.

jeniquebelgrave@barbadostoday.bb