LABOR: Recommendation being formulated for minimum wage increase – EyeWitness News

Posted: March 17, 2022 at 2:21 am

NASSAU, BAHAMAS Labor Director Robert Farquharson said yesterday that the National Tripartite Council is looking into a number of factors to formulate a recommendation on an increase in the countrys minimum wage.

Farquharson told Eyewitness News: The process of formulating the recommendation is underway right now. We have to look at a number of factors such as; the cost of living in The Bahamas, inflation and government policy.

There are also some other issues. There of course has to be consultation with the private sector.

Farquharson could not give a timeline on when a minimum wage recommendation could be forwarded to the government.

Last week, Obie Ferguson, the Trade Union Congress president reiterated calls for a living wage in the country.

Ferguson told Eyewitness News that Bahamians must be able to have a living wage as the cost of food and fuel continue to rise.

We need a living wage in this country and Ive been calling for it for years. We need it now more than ever. If the cost of most things has gone up and your wages remain stagnant, youre going to find it hard to survive.

He continued: It is the governments intention to have the minimum wage of $210 per week replaced by a higher wage that could be around $250 per week. The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) promised to revise the wage before winning the September general election.

University of The Bahamas (UB) researchers, in a study produced last year, pegged Nassaus monthly living wage at $2,625, while the equivalent for Grand Bahama was $3,550 per month.

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LABOR: Recommendation being formulated for minimum wage increase - EyeWitness News

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