Georgetown: Labour Minister Dr Nanda Gopaul says more than 31,000 persons in Guyana will benefit from the $35,000 minimum wage standard slated to take effect from July 1.
Minimum wage standard caters for fulltime employees working for 40 hours per week or more. “All will benefit across the board, from security guards to janitors to domestic workers, all will benefit,” he said.
Boasting about the progress made thus far, Gopaul said for the first time in the history of Guyana, vulnerable workers will be protected by the implementation of a minimum wage.
According to him, from the responses received thus far from both the private and the public sectors, employers are pleased with the outlined sum, noting that some businessmen indicated that it should have been “a little more”. He emphasised that this is a move in the right direction, considering the current industrial relations climate.
This new national minimum wage will be implemented across the board for all business sectors in Guyana, replacing the existing one that covered specific sectors. Before the electorate went to the polls in 2011, then President Bharrat Jagdeo had pledged his government’s support to improve the salaries of workers via the implementation of a minimum wage.
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