THOSE SMILING PETROL ATTENDANTS

May 29, 2012 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

If you have been to the petrol stations over the past three weeks you would have noticed a change in attitude by the attendants. Many of them are smiling and are more friendly and energized at their jobs. This change has nothing to do with the skyrocketing of prices at the pump but instead to the increased benefits to which they are now entitled as a result of an important decision made by the government.
Three weeks ago, the government made its most important decision since assuming a new term. It adjusted the minimum wages for various categories of workers including pump attendants, wash way attendants, store clerks, hotel and guest house workers and porters.
These categories are the lowest paid in the workforce and therefore most vulnerable to exploitation. And because they are the lowliest, they are often unable to press their case for higher wages out of fear of being dismissed.
The greatest exploitation of these categories takes place within the private sector and since the government cannot instruct a private company how much to pay workers, it has the power to establish a minimum threshold below which workers should not be paid. In so doing the government is offering protection against these workers against being underpaid.
The decision of the Ministry of Labour was arrived at through a process involving discussions between representatives of employers, workers’ organizations. For pump attendants, they will now be guaranteed a minimum of $11,900 per week which is probably far more than what many of them were receiving. No wonder so many of them have been in high spirits this past week.
The government needs to be congratulated on this working class measure and it is hoped that it will continue to examine the minimum wages for the most vulnerable because in many instances these workers are taken advantage of, particularly in the private sector.
But the Ministry of Labour has to go much further than simply set the minimum wage. It has to ensure that workers actually receive the wages to which they are entitled and that they are not being paid below this level.
While the Ministry can send out its inspectors to check on this, there is always the danger that some of these inspectors can be lured into the backroom by unscrupulous employers and provided with enough reason to turn a blind eye. Or workers afraid to lose their jobs, can be encouraged to lie about their wages.
The best way therefore to ensure that the lowly paid workers are not exploited is to publicize the minimum wages to which they are entitled. In this way, the workers will know what they are entitled to and therefore would be in a stronger position to ensure that they are not underpaid.
Having commendably increased the minimum wages that ought to be paid to these lowly paid workers, the Ministry of Labour must plug any possibility of these increases being eroded by workers who may be forced to work longer hours for the new pay.
It is therefore important for the Ministry of Labour to follow up their announcement about the adjustment to the minimum wages with stipulations as to how many hours the various categories of workers are required to work before they are paid overtime and on what days they are entitled to time and a half and double pay.
It is now quite common in Guyana for stores of all description to no open on Sundays. There is a need for the government to enforce the law as regards Sunday shopping because many workers are being forced to work on these days when they should be resting at home. But if workers have to work on Sundays, they should be paid double the daily rate.
It is a happy time for workers in this country and raises hope that the PPP is returning to its working class roots. It can be made better if the minimum wage is adjusted for that category of workers that is even more subject to exploitation: domestic workers.

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THOSE SMILING PETROL ATTENDANTS

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