The Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) has recommended a “more gradual increase” in the island’s minimum wage rate of $200 weekly.
BCCI president Andy Armstrong made this clear yesterday, reacting to Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) general secretary Sir Roy Trotman’s call Thursday for a series of increases over months that would take the wage up to and past $300 weekly.
“I think if you go from $200 to $300 that is too big an increase at one time,” Armstrong said, adding he was in favour of an increase “somewhere in between.”
According to Armstrong some business people have a genuine concern “that if you have that big an increase in the minimum wage, you could find some dislocation for the very people you are trying to protect.”
He said the last minimum wage was set “quite a few years ago, so I certainly agree that it’s time to look at some increase.”
However, he conceded that for some businesses the reality might be layoffs and/or shorter working hours if they think the wages bill is rising too high.
“But I don’t think the majority of businesses are going to be particularly affected because in most established businesses there is no-one getting paid such a low wage,” he added.“I think where you’re going to tend to find these lower wages is in the rum shops and with domestics as well. “So I don’t believe it’s going to impact the established business community that much because I believe most established businesses are already paying well above the minimum rate.”
In general, the chamber did not have “a big issue with an increase in the minimum wage”, he admitted, but a hike from $200 to $300 weekly “seems a very big jump in one stage”.“To me that kind of a raise would be excessive at one time,” he remarked.
Sir Roy told reporters the BWU would be asking its members to put pressure on their parliamentary representatives to work to see the minimum wage is increased.He said that the two major political parties had commissioned studies but taken no action on the recommendations.
He complained that nothing had been done since professor Andrew Downes, an economist, had suggested raising the minimum wage to $300 a week.
