Maravi

Revised minimum wage still meagre, says unionist

Revised minimum wage still meagre, says unionist
By Sandra Lombe in Livingstone
Mon 24 Jan. 2011, 03:59 CAT

THE revised minimum wage is still meagre, according to the Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union of Zambia. Union president Mubiana Sitwala said the minimum wage of K419,000 would not help the workers in the country given the prevailing economic situation.

“The tripartite consultative labour council has been working on this piece of legislation for over six years on end. The question that begs is, how this meagre minimum wage of K419,000 was arrived at. I am wondering what criteria they used,” Sitwala said.

“Looking at the figure, it appears like employers dictated that figure to the government officials that were present during the consultative process. What sort of input did representatives of the workers put in? Was the engagement process transparent? Was consensus attained and did the tripartite labour council resolve to settle on the K419,000 as the final figure? If not who determined the closing figure of K419,000?”

He wondered how the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) would be attained if the wages encouraged and supported poverty stricken salaries.

“The decent work agenda is another of the goals Zambia has embarked on. May I be advised how we are going to reach this when we promote exploitative wages,” he said. “We have on several occasions argued that the minimum threshold for tax exemption be raised to the food basket mark. The minimum wage should align to realities on the ground in terms of the living conditions of the community where it operates.”

Sitwala said the minimum wage was detached from reality.
He said the theory of the living wage should not alienate itself from the minimum wage.

“When the government sets the exemption threshold to K1 million it simply means this is the take-home-pay of the lowly paid workers in the country. How then does the same government contradict itself when determining the minimum wage that is two times below the tax exempt threshold?” Sitwala said.

He said the government which was supposed to protect the workers who were not in the bargaining unit had once again chosen to expose them to gross exploitation.

“We seem to promote deprivation of workers whilst employers are engaged in profiteering. We boast of huge development in the country without corresponding benefits to the people of Zambia,” he said.

Sitwala said the government should come up with a new calculated and thought out minimum wage before employers take advantage of the situation.

Last week, the government announced that the minimum wage had been revised from K268,000 to K419,000.

Labels: MINIMUM WAGE, MUBIANA SITWALA

posted by MrK @ 12:07 PM