Member of Parliament for Alotau Ricky Morris has called for the review of the Minimum Wage Law to include workers in the agriculture sector.
Mr Morris made this call in a series of questions directed to the deputy Prime Minister and acting Minister for Labour and Industrial relations, John Rosso, in a Parliament Sitting on Thursday 23rd March.
He asked that the "clause 7" in the minimum wage law, which exempted workers in the agriculture sector, be reviewed.
While all sectors have benefited from the minimum wage of K3.50 per hour, the agriculture sector has been left out, Mr Morris noted.
"Can the Minister make a commitment to undertake a review on the minimum wage law clause 7 that exempts our workers in the agriculture sector to participate under the minimum wage determination," the member for Alotau said.
In response, Mr Rosso said the exemption of minimum wage on the agriculture sector was upon the request of the sector itself, because most aspects of agriculture are based on rural settings.
"Through all employment sectors in urban areas, the minimum wage is K3.50, but in terms of agriculture it has been determined that most agricultural activity in the country is based in rural areas and much of the reliability of income on cash crops are dependent on factors concerning the environment such as weather, climate and so forth," he said.
"So many of our people still ask if it (minimum wage) should be increased. But it must be noted that the minimum wage is set at the K3.50 mark but no one is stopping companies to pay their employees at their own desired rates. That is solely up to the companies," Mr Rosso added.
He further clarified that the minimum wage is the lowest mark that employees can get paid at. Companies can pay their workers at the minimum wage rate or go beyond the rate, but not less than K3.50 per hour.
Speaking in his capacity as Labour Minister, John Rosso revealed that the minimum wage law will be amended to impose tougher penalties for noncompliance by employers.
He said the current penalty of K5,000 for companies who pay their employees below the minimum wage is not sufficient.
Companies who continue to defy the minimum wage law will be heavily penalised, as Mr Rosso said amendments will be made to the current minimum wage law to increase the penalty to K100,000.
"Another thing that we will be doing in this term of Parliament is to ensure that we bring amendments to the floor that companies who knowingly pay below the minimum wage will be penalised K100,000," he said.
"Right now, the K5,000 penalty that is currently in our laws is insufficient and companies are not afraid to meet the cost and are treating our people with indifference," Mr Rosso said.
"A lot of companies pay below minimum wage, especially with shops and security firms. Most security guards are paid 80 toea to K1.00 an hour and that comes back to compliance from the Department of Labor which I am currently heading," he said.
Mr Rosso also directed the Labour and Industrial Relations department to carry out a minimum wage enforcement exercise to ensure companies comply with the law.
With the Department of Labour now reviewing and amending the Act, Mr Rosso stated that he would like to significantly increase the penalty.
“We have the minimum amount for penalties, for people who don’t comply with the labour laws like not paying the minimum wage what we’re trying to do now is ensure that the department amend these laws so that we raise the fines,” he said.
Mr Rosso observed that there are systems in place for employees to make complaints if they are not receiving the minimum wage, but the penalties to punish companies are insufficient.
“The secretary is looking to amend the penalties, after which compliance will be enforced. So, he’s in the process of setting up a team that will go out in Port Moresby, then Lae and a few other places to make it compliant,” Rosso said.
Reference:
Parliament Sitting Thursday 23 March 2023 - https://www.facebook.com/looppng/videos/102528179463248/?app=fbl
