HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr Roger Luncheon, reported yesterday that Cabinet continued considering implementation of the provisions of the July 2013 Minimum Wage Order, specifically with regard to the public service and public sector operations.

Local democratic organs were recently dealt with, and at this current meeting, sweeper/cleaners in the education system came under Cabinet’s scrutiny, Luncheon said at his usual post-Cabinet press briefing, at the Office of the President in Georgetown.
“The Ministry of Education identified a number of areas that complicated the implementation of the Minimum Wages Order for this category of service providers; among which were the uneven employment placement practices, in essence regions with and others without sweeper/cleaners. Uneven remuneration speaks for itself: sweeper/cleaners doing the same jobs (and) being paid differently in different locations; late payments; and even though the payments were late, they were also not consistent with the recently promulgated minimum wages provisions,” Dr Luncheon explained.
Cabinet considered those among other complications, he disclosed, and after an examination of the matter, Cabinet concluded there would be an equitable distribution of services across the various school districts. “Whether full-time or part-time, remuneration of these sweeper/cleaners would now be consistent with the provisions in the Minimum Wages Order 2013; and, of course, (there would be) more timely payments. Cabinet instructed that supplementary provisions would be sought to meet the necessary expenditure retroactive to July 2013,” Dr Luncheon said.

(By Telesha Ramnarine )