Wage Report Delayed Again after Discrepancies

The release of the National Wage Consultative Council (NWCC) salary report, which was expected to be made public at the end of March, has been delayed.

The reason for this delay is that an initial report, submitted to the Minister of Labour and Industrial Relations, Soodesh Callichurn, about two weeks ago, has been sent back to the NWCC for amendments.

Minister Callichurn confirmed this yesterday, stating that he had indeed received a report but after reviewing it with his colleagues, he sent it back to the NWCC for some adjustments.

He was unable to provide a timeline for when he would receive the revised report.

The Minister has asked the NWCC to prepare a report to address anomalies resulting from the increase in the minimum wage to Rs 16,500 in January.

However, the guaranteed minimum wage is Rs 18,500, with the government providing an additional Rs 2,000 from the Social Security Fund to employees at the lower end of the pay scale.

This has created discrepancies for workers who were earning above Rs 18,500 prior to January.

The report also aims to address wage disparities for the same job roles within the private sector.

For example, the salary of a driver may vary from one company to another. With this report, all drivers will receive the same wage, based on their length of service.

It is important to note that there are around thirty Remuneration Orders within the private sector.

Source: l’Express