The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) was yesterday said to have sought the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) help to define what a livable wage is.

Peter Goudie, the Chamber’s labour division head, told Tribune Business he had reached out to the global body to better understand the concept’s costs and how it can be implemented in The Bahamas after the Prime Minister yesterday reiterated the Government will look to further increase the minimum wage “at the appropriate time”.

Philip Davis KC, speaking in the House of Assembly on the Speech from the Throne debate, confirmed that the minimum wage “is not yet where we would all like it to be” following the $50 per week, or 24 percent, increase implemented on New Year’s Day this year that took it from $210 to $260.

“We increased the national minimum wage which, admittedly, is not yet where we would all like it to be, but the 24 percent increase represented progress. It is a step closer to our eventual goal,” Mr Davis told Parliament. “We took action to ensure that Bahamians had more money in their pockets – a step in the right direction that will be revisited at an appropriate time.”

Mr Goudie, though, said both the Government and trade unions were so frequently going beyond the minimum wage concept to talk of introducing a so-called “livable wage” that there needs to be greater understanding of what the latter involves and its implications.

The “livable wage” was most recently mentioned by Pia Glover-Rolle, minister of labour and the public service, who earlier this month pledged that the Government is “actively working towards” its phasing-un.

“Yes, I hear them,” Mr Goudie told this newspaper. “They’re [the Government] always talking about increasing wages and so are the unions. The Chamber has asked the ILO to help us with what information they have in what is a livable wage, where is all this coming from and what studies have been done on it.

“I’m waiting to hear from them. Everybody talks about this livable wage but no one has defined it, nobody has said how we will pay for and whether it is a benefit people should have. It’s easy to talk about a livable wage and hear it, and that it will be wonderful and perfect, but how do you get there?”

He added: “I’m waiting for the ILO to get back. We need some concrete information to understand what’s involved instead of talking about the perfect sun in the sky. I’m not running down a road where I do not know where I am going. I want to know what it all means. It’s as simple as that.

“We have to understand what we’re working for before we work for it. I don’t talk about something I don’t know anything about. If you ask the Government and the unions what a livable wage is, they don’t know. We’re waiting to hear from the experts what this is, how we get there, who’s supposed to have it and how do you qualify for it.

“I’m struggling. Don’t come yelling to me about wanting a livable wage but you can’t tell me what it is. You want more money, I do too, and so do you. It’s easy to say you want more money but on what basis? That’s the problem. I’m hearing this discussion. If he [the Prime Minister] wants to talk about a livable wage, maybe he needs to tell us how we’re going to pay for it.”

University of The Bahamas (UoB) researchers, in a study produced in 2021, pegged Nassau’s monthly living wage at $2,625 while the equivalent for Grand Bahama was $3,550 per month.

The authors, Lesvie Archer, Olivia Saunders, Bridget Hogg, Vijaya Permual and Brittney Johnson, wrote: “Our gross living wage estimate for New Providence is 26 percent lower than the Grand Bahama living wage estimate, nearly 200 percent higher than the national minimum wage, 127 percent higher than 2013 poverty line and nearly 75 percent higher than the minimum wage hike proposed by a local union.

“Our living wage estimate for Grand Bahama is nearly 300 percent higher than the living wage, 200 percent higher than the 2013 poverty line and 140 percent higher than the minimum wage hike proposed by a local union.” The Bahamas’ private sector minimum wage, last increased following VAT’s introduction in 2015, is currently $210 a week.”

The minimum wage, though, is defined differently from the “livable wage” measure employed by the UoB study. It based its work on a model employed by Richard Anker, the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) living wage specialist, who defined a livable wage as one that can sustain a person’s “physical, emotional, social and cultural needs and that of their family beyond mere subsistence”.

Food and housing costs, based on a “nutritious diet” and “decent housing”, were factored into the calculations together with other daily living costs, while the research also drew on data from sources such as the 2019 Labour Market Information Newsletter; 2017 Labour Force Report; and 2016 Government of the Bahamas salary book.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister yesterday signalled that the goal of his - and every - government should be to target full employment. “Employment remains our primary focus as we continue to drive unemployment numbers down,” he said.

“We will not be satisfied until every Bahamian who wants a job has a job. Full employment is an ambitious goal that all governments must strive for. The closer we come to realising that goal, the more of our citizens will have experienced elevated personal security.

“The same goes for our entrepreneurs. Every Bahamian who wants to start a business, should be able to start a business. Every impediment in their way represents the failures of successive governments to empower more Bahamians to be owners in our economy.”

Mr Davis then promised his administration will take the “biggest step taken to protect Bahamian workers since the introduction of Bahamianisation policies” through the launch of the Department of Labour’s Notice of Vacancy unit. It will have responsibility for ensuring Bahamians are appointed to understudy expatriate workers so that they can be trained, and are ready to replace them, when work permits expire.

“It’s not just about the number of opportunities we create for Bahamians either, but about the quality of those opportunities. No qualified Bahamian is interested in remaining at the entry level for their entire career. No Bahamian professional who has invested time and money into self-development and education wants to hit an impenetrable glass ceiling that sees them stuck in the middle of the corporate structure,” he said.

“Our people deserve pathways to unimpeded career growth based on their qualifications, experience and performance. If you have conversations with employees at various companies, like I have, you will hear the stories of head bartender, club manager and housekeeping manager posts that have been monopolised by foreign hires.

“We’re not talking about rare or unique skill sets here. There are Bahamians who are currently qualified for these posts and preparations should be made for them to step into these roles,” he added. “But even in the case of specialised and high skills roles, with few exceptions, there should be Bahamians identified and trained to fill those roles, too,” Mr Davis continued.

“This is not up to the discretion of the employer; this is a matter of policy – it is not optional. Unfortunately, for many years, this has not been the case. Not only has enforcement not been prioritised, there were no personnel assigned to enforce our laws.

“This is why we are now launching a new Notice of Vacancy Unit at the Department of Labour, which will ensure that the law is enforced. Our people rely on their government to protect them, and this Unit will step in to ensure that in instances when an employer hires a non-Bahamian, a Bahamian understudy is identified and is actively being trained.

“Eventually, in accordance with that training plan, the Bahamian will be elevated to that role, eliminating the need to fill the role with a non-Bahamian.”