The Ministry for Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment will begin the country’s first ever National Minimum Wage Baseline Survey in all the four (4) divisions of the country on 6th of May and end on the 31st of May, 2013.
Labour Minister Jone Usamate said this first ever exercise in Fiji conducted in partnership with academic Dr Mahendra Reddy of the Fiji National University will be covering all sectors of the economy, including organisations covered under the existing ten (10) sectors covered under the Wages Regulations Orders and also those involving individual bargaining between employers and workers.
This will result in the determination and introduction of a national minimum wage, the hourly rate below which all sectoral minimum wage rates must not be allowed to fall.
Mr Usamate affirmed that the survey will assess existing wage levels in Fiji’s labour market including conditions of employment in the context of the requirements under the Employment Relations Promulgation 2007 (ERP) and the ten (10) current Wages Regulation Orders (WROs) against the backdrop of the economy.
He added that a framework will also be developed to periodically review the national minimum wage based on the agreed social and economic factors provided for in the ILO Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970 (No. 131) and its Minimum Wage Fixing Recommendation 135. The first national minimum wage set will be used as the benchmark or reference point from which future possible adjustments will be made.
The Ministry confirms that throughout the country, there are around 6,706 enterprises with 171,865 workers and out of these enterprises, 4,065 are covered under the Wages Regulation Orders and 2,641 are enterprises where workers are employed through individual bargaining.
“For the purpose of the survey, a ten (10) percent sample was randomly selected resulting in the selection of 17,331 workers to be interviewed from within 2,617 enterprises inclusive of micro, small, medium and large organisation in the survey,” Mr Usamate said.
The survey will be conducted in a targeted timeline of one (1) month by the Ministry of Labour officers and 88 volunteers recruited from the National Employment Centre (NEC) database, capitalising on Governments employment creation initiative to add value to the lives of our unemployed. Dr Reddy conducted the relevant training this week on the survey for all volunteers and staff involved in the survey.
Dr Reddy will also be conducting stakeholder workshops on findings of national minimum wage survey following a presentation of the report to the Labour Minister for Cabinet endorsement of national minimum wage and its review mechanism.
The Minister highlighted that this is in line with Government’s commitment under the Peoples Charter for Change, Peace and Progress (PCCPP) towards reducing poverty to a negligible level by 2015 and at the same time enhancing productivity.
Mr Usamate appeals to all employers and stakeholders to cooperate with the Ministry to accomplish this significant task that will propel our country forward to where both workers and employers fully benefit from the fruit of their labour.
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