National minimum wage by 2013

GEORGETOWN (CMC):

The Ministry of Labour is seeking to establish a national minimum wage for all workers by 2013. This was revealed by Labour Minister Dr Nanda Gopaul, who said the administration is keen on ensuring that the working class receives a decent salary.

According to the labour minister, while the Government has made significant strides in providing a decent minimum wage for workers in various categories, it is time to take the next step.

"So what we have decided that we are going to do next year is to define a national minimum wage so it would be all-encompassing so that no Guyanese worker earns below what they work and that would give them some degree of security."

He cited the recent increase in minimum wage that saw employees within some sections of the private sector benefiting. He said the increase in minimum wage range from 60-90 per cent is satisfactory.

"The Ministry of Labour has the capacity and an inspectorate division. We are monitoring employers, we are looking at wage books, we are not preventing you from paying. In fact, we would be happy if employers can pay more than what we stipulate, but we ought to stipulate a minimum wage for those categories of workers that we consider vulnerable."