General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) Toni Moore served early notice that she will not sit by and allow a delay in negotiating a new minimum wage as outlined in the Budget.
During debate in Parliament on Tuesday night, the St George North MP endorsed the move which came on the heels of concerns she raised in the Lower Chamber last month, that three years after the $8.50 per hour minimum wage for shop assistants and the $9.25 per hour for security guards, the minimum wage board was yet to meet to review the sums.
Moore said failure to act is not an option as she urged her colleague Minister of Labour Colin Jordan to ensure nothing stands in the way of the critical talks.
“I urge him to actively ensure that bureaucracies or absences of members of the Minimum Wage Board will not see us dragging into inertia where the commitment to improve on the minimum wage is further delayed. There must be no excuse for the board’s inability to meet.
“I will not stand idly by while our workers are forced to make do with wages that don’t keep pace with the cost of living. Failure to act is not an option, it is actually nonnegotiable.”
Moore, who has previously insisted that the current minimum wage is just a starting point, is anticipating a further hike. She suggested that an increase along with some of the budgetary measures would help workers better cope with the cost of living.
“I have every confidence that a new rate will come alongside the announcement of the continued decrease of the VAT [Value Added Tax] on electricity and negotiations that I imagine will continue for lower prices at the supermarket level. I believe that these measures will not resolve the problem of cost of living but will certainly go some distance into addressing an issue that is often very complex,” she said.
Moore also signalled her satisfaction with the government’s move to revisit granting of concessions which Prime Minister Mia Mottley said had resulted in the loss of more than $2 billion in revenue over the last four years.
Starting January 1, 2025, businesses with concessions prior to 2005 must reapply, while companies with concessions post-2025 will be required to reapply to the Ministry of Finance in 2027.
Moore, who recently mounted a strong lobby for an overhaul of concessions granted to the construction and hotel sectors, said the move was the action of a government willing to act in the interest of the economy and society.
“This measure is about aligning our economic policies with the realities of today and the aspirations of tomorrow. It is about ensuring that if companies are saying that they’re earning foreign exchange, that that foreign exchange is reaching where it should.
“This approach I find to be both sensible and responsible. But above all, it encourages organisations, including unions, if they get concessions, to bring current their application for concessions and their obligations to do right once they have been granted these concessions. So the measures are measures that we see aligning with a forward-thinking government,” the trade unionist said in support of the measures.
The government backbencher also gave the thumbs up to increasing the staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by 250, the modernisation of the Barbados Police Service, and the establishment of a Teaching Service Commission.
“These actions, to my mind, are the very embodiment of a government that prioritises its people and sees the workforce not as a liability but as the very engine of growth for this nation,” she said. (SD)
