The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

IMMIGRATION and Labour Minister Keith Bell said officials anticipate that legislation for a new minimum wage will be ready to present to Parliament “very soon”.

It is the government’s 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 promised to revise the wage before winning the September general election.

However, Mr Bell said it was not yet known what the new wage will be as this was a decision that carried financial implications and is up to the Cabinet to decide.

Tribune Business reported yesterday that the National Tripartite Council would be forwarding its recommendation to Cabinet “within the month” on what it believes the new minimum wage should be.

Mr Bell said he was optimistic that legislation to set the new minimum would be presented within the first quarter of this year.

“The latest thing is that you would note that in our blueprint we touted that we would increase the minimum wage or we would move the minimum wage to a liveable wage,” he told reporters following the morning sitting of Parliament.

“We currently are working very closely with the Office of the Attorney General and we are anticipating that the legislation will be ready very soon and we’ll be able to present it very soon in this Parliament.”

Asked to reveal what wage was being proposed, he said: “Well again we call it a liveable wage because we anticipate that we will be removing the minimum wage and again that is a decision for the Cabinet to determine. It obviously has financial implications, significant, and so we would have to wait until (for) what the Cabinet determines.”

Meanwhile, a promised honorarium for Bahamas Department of Immigration officers is still in the works, although it has not yet gone before Cabinet. The officers were promised the payment after an unprecedented number of migrants were apprehended in Inagua last September.

“There has been some progress in that respect and again that is a decision for the Cabinet to make but you’ll recall that was unprecedented and I do believe that they ought to be properly compensated in some way and we intend to do that.”

Mr Bell also said: “The process is as you would appreciate all of these things have financial implications and so the appropriate thing to do would be to communicate with the Ministry of Finance to see where it is because this isn’t money that was necessarily budgeted for and so we want to make sure that I don’t necessarily speak out of turn and act out of turn and that the monies are there and then we can move from there.”

Regarding a job fair over the weekend, the minister said 86 people made redundant from the British Colonial Hilton had been hired on the spot. He told reporters he was awaiting a final tally of the number of hired people.

“I cannot give you the final numbers but up to the point when I was there they hired 86 persons on the spot and that was earlier in the day and so I’m just waiting on the final numbers from the department and Sandals personnel, which I should get hopefully between today and tomorrow but I want to commend again Mr Whitehead and the fine team at Sandals and certainly the Department of Labour for the outpouring for their commitment for their organisation. It was well oiled and the people turned out in significant numbers. Not only the persons from the Hilton Hotel, but also other persons from off scene and they too took advantage of the opportunity and some of them were hired.”