Manning: No plans for sectoral minimum wage

Government does not intend to introduce a sectoral minimum wage at this time, Prime Minister Patrick Manning stated yesterday. The Prime Minister cited two reasons for its decision. The Government did not feel that a sectoral wage was beneficial to the economy and people of this country and, furthermore, Government was determined not to interfere or subvert the collective bargaining process by the declaration of a sectoral wage, which would bring increases in wages for workers in certain sectors of the economy, by Government fiat (as opposed to collective bargaining). “We believe that the employer and employee must sit down in good faith and talk,” he stated, adding that they were now doing that after weeks of industrial action. Speaking at a post-Cabinet news conference, the Prime Minister also stated that he was not flustered by the threats of trade unions to shut down the country.

Manning said there was a difference between talk and action. “In my years in public life, trade unions are always threatening to do this,” he said, urging people not to get “carried away by words.” Addressing the issue of the sectoral minimum wage, Manning said the matter had not been brought to Cabinet. He said the Government had to balance conflicting requirements. He said while Government was committed to implementing its campaign promise for a sectoral wage, it believed that it would be irresponsible in the current environment and, given the possible consequences of such action, to proceed. “It is an intention we made clear in an election campaign and in due course we would examine it again,” he said. Manning stated that the matter had not been deliberated by the Cabinet but “a committee of us discussed it.” He stressed, however, that “a preponderance of Cabinet members” believed that the implementation of a sectoral wage would “create more problems than solve.” He said it was not “prudent” to have the Minister of Labour as a member of this special Standing Committee (of the Cabinet) which discussed the issue.

The Prime Minister also stated that Government had taken careful note of the cessation of exports of LNG. He said it was inconsistent with Government’s policy position that this country should be a secure place for LNG supply. Manning said Government was monitoring the strike very carefully to see how it unfolds. “When it is all over we would re-examine it and if there are actions that the Government has to take, we would take them,” he said. He said as Government sought to put new programmes in place, the question of inflation also arose. In this regard, Cabinet planned to discuss the increases in prices of building materials. The Prime Minister added that once the economy was expanding, the labour movement would also seek to extract a larger slice of the pie which was legitimate.