The national minimum wage increase of $3.00 from $17.50 to $20.50 per hour, has officially come into effect.
This was announced by Finance Minister Colm Imbert in his budget presentation last October.
Acting Labour Minister Randall Mitchell in a news release yesterday said this latest $3 hourly increase will benefit approximately 190,000 workers who are employed across Trinidad and Tobago within supermarkets, hardwares, bars, hotels, restaurants, warehouses, gas stations among other establishments, as well as those employed as security officers and domestic workers.
He said when calculated, these workers will receive a $520 increase in their monthly income, amounting to an increase of $6,240 in annual income.
Mitchell underscored that as of today, “ NO worker should be paid less than the hourly wage of $20.50 which equates to $164.00 for an 8-hour workday, $820.00 for a 40-hour workweek, and a monthly rate of $3553.33.”
The Minister said the Minimum Wage Rate was first introduced in April 1998 at $7 an hour, then in January 2003 to $8, in March 2005 to $9, in January 2011, to $12.50, January 2015 to $15 a 20 per cent increase and in December 2019 to $17.50, which represented a 17 per cent increase.
The Labour Inspectorate Unit of the Ministry of Labour which is responsible for monitoring and enforcing the Minimum Wages Act and Orders, continues to ensure compliance with these laws and has in the past year (2023) collected over $1 million in arrears owed to workers through rigorous inspections.
While the ministry dubbed the increase as a “major milestone” Minimum Wage Act, Minister Stephen Mc Clashie, Labour said to reduce the number of breaches he urged employers to take heed of the New Order and consult with the Ministry’s Labour Inspectorate Unit for information on the new wage to be compliant with the law and to ensure fairness and equity to workers.
Employers of Minimum Wage Workers are reminded of their obligations as outlined in the Minimum Wages Act Chap. 88:04, as follows: Keep, maintain, and retain wage records for three years to show compliance; provide the inspector with information about wages and terms and conditions of work; allow the Inspector to inspect wage records and pay sheets and permit the inspector to interview workers.
Mixed views on increase
Speaking about the increase to Guardian Media, the President of the Estate Police Association (EPA) Deryck Richardson, which represents security officers in the country, said that the $20.50 is woefully inadequate given the rise in the cost of living and property tax. Despite this he added officers are looking forward to the raise in salary.
However, Richardson said the security companies who man the Government ministries including the Ministry of Education, have been told that they will not be renegotiating contracts, and it would stay at the $17.50 until such time.
“The security companies have been saying to us, that we need to understand their situation, that their cost has gone up not by the three dollars, but by four and five dollars, because the security firms now have to increase the NIS and the fact that clients are unwilling to renegotiate contracts they have been tied into,” he explained.
Richardson, also lamented that the last wage increase in 2019 the Supermarket Association announced a food price increase, so it did nothing for the workers.
A worker at a clothes store in downtown Port-of-Spain Amanda Small said “I am grateful for the increase as I am a single mother, so it is a good move on the part of the government.”
Another worker Anand Jagessar at a sports bar in Central said, “I am happy for the increase, while it could have been more, as a result of the high cost of living, but we welcome it.”
