A national minimum wage, variable across industries, much talked about but never implemented, appears to have emerged from a deal to end the Barbados Workers’ Union’s standoff with guard firm G4S Solutions (Barbados) Ltd over pay.
After four days of negotiations, Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced “a seminal moment” in labour history in which the Government would move to a national pay floor by April while G4S agreed to raise its security officers’ wages from $7.42 an hour to $8.79 an hour from January 1.
The guards went on strike twice within the last two weeks to protest G4S’s refusal to give them a raise for the past six years, prompting the BWU to threaten a general strike.
And the PM revealed that the security firm had also given a commitment that those workers would work a minimum of 40 hours per week.
Mottley said: “We’ve had a long few days but like most things we have put the national interest first and we are in a position to report that a crisis has been averted and that we have agreed on a number of things that we believe will not only add value to the specific members affected by this crisis but will come to be regarded as a seminal moment in this country’s industrial history.
“When we reflected on where we were Monday night there was no doubt that they were strong and definite positions. But like with most matters of this type, our duty is to see where we can find common ground.”
But even as a relieved Mottley broke the news that the threatened industrial action was off, she said the situation had driven Government to move towards implementing a National Minimum Wage by April.
She said it was not a new idea as the Barbados Labour Party’s 2018 election manifesto had suggested a minimum wage of $8 per hour.
But the PM said there would be no single minimum wage across the board and it would vary across different sectors.
She told journalists: “We expect that nobody is going to set a minimum wage lower than what people are earning for the most part and therefore we look forward to a resolution of this matter that will allow not just G4S, not just security workers, but thousands of Barbadian workers to face 2021 with the comfort that come April that they will be in place in Barbados a National Minimum Wage as well as minimum wages for different sectors.”
But she cautioned that the situation was not an invitation for workers in other sectors to demand wage increases.
“This is not a signal for open season on wage increases. It isn’t a wage increase it is the correction of an anomaly. It is the correction of an unfair situation. It is the correction of an unjust situation,” she said.
She outlined a four-month-long process of consultation and review involving ministers and a blue ribbon panel of industrial relations, business and civic leaders.
She revealed that a working group within the Ministry of Labour had already prepared draft legislation for a National Minimum Wage.
Mottley said the draft would go to the National Minimum Wage Board where it would be reviewed and amended as necessary.
The PM said a Blue Ribbon Advisory Committee comprised of experienced and accomplished Barbadians would also be put in place to advise Government on its implementation as well as to have responsibility for the maintenance and review of minimum wages in Barbados.
Mottley disclosed that board would be chaired by former Chief Justice Sir David Simmons and would include John Williams, the Most Honourable Patrick Frost, Joseph Goddard, Sir Allan Fields and Marcia Martindale.
Mottley said: “This committee will take the recommendations of the Minimum Wage Board and take the recommendations from this working document and that we will ask them to consult with the various institutions across the Social Partnership, and opened up also to individuals, and that in doing so they report back to the Cabinet of Barbados no later than February 1, 2021.”
Minister of Labour Colin Jordan would then review the comments of all of the parties before making a recommendation to Cabinet on what the National Minimum Wage would be, she added.
G4S’s lawyer Ramon Alleyne QC said it was unfortunate the company that pays the highest wages to security officers in Barbados had gotten embroiled in the protest.
He said in 2009 G4S had actually called for the introduction of a minimum wage.
“This crisis has offered an opportunity and with the Prime Minister’s leadership there is a solution which speaks not just to G4S but to a wider community that is in need,” Alleyne said.
Former BWU general secretary Sir Roy Trotman used the opportunity to commend the workers of G4S for fighting for their rights with vigour.
He too said he was happy that the impasse had led to the decision to implement a National Minimum Wage as it would “create a level playing field”.
(randybennett@barbadostoday.bb)
