GOVERNMENT has approved a proposal by the Labour Tripartite Committee to increase the minimum wage in the private sector from $35,000 to just over $44,000.This decision was taken when Cabinet met on Tuesday, a senior government official has confirmed. General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress, Lincoln Lewis told the Guyana Chronicle that the National Tripartite Committee on labour had made a proposal for the increase some time ago. He said this increase was agreed on by the Private Sector.

Back in January Junior Social Protection Minister, Keith Scott had said that Government was in the process of reviewing Guyana’s minimum wage, with a view of raising it, through the law, for private sector workers. The current minimum wage paid to public servants stands at $50 000, while that of private sector employees is about GYD$35 000. Scott, who has responsibility for labour had said then that the ministry was conducting a countrywide survey to ascertain what the average employees working in the private sector are being paid. He said that this move will seek to regularise wages and salaries.

“There is a clamour out there that people want to feel that if Government’s minimum wage is $50 000, that everybody should have the same. That is something that I feel should happen. I feel that if we take that $50 000 across the board, that we will have a happier work force . . . bear in mind that we do have to measure these increases with the ability to pay, but nevertheless from an economic point of view, it is better to have a happy workforce than a discontented one,” Minister Scott added back then.

Members of the Board of Directors for the National Tripartite Committee include Minister of Social Protection Volda Lawrence, representatives of the Consultative Association of Guyanese Industries (CAGI), the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG).

Among other things, the committee deals with matters relating to industrial relations, human resource management and labour policies. At the time of its reconstitution Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo had said that, “we have appointed these entities to work along with the Government and this board…very important features of the struggles of the working people of Guyana for trade union recognition emerged from the Trade Union Recognition Act chapter 98:07 of the laws of Guyana, and it concerns the procedures for certifying trade unions and recognised bodies.”