Committee to question members of Wages Advisory Board

The Parliament’s Economic Affairs Committee, on Tuesday, passed a motion in favor to summoning the members of the Salaries and Wages Advisory Board for questioning regarding their recommendations on setting a minimum wage in Maldives.

The Board’s report was forwarded to the Parliament for an opinion by the Economic Ministry in mid-February. It is currently under review by the Economic Affairs Committee.

Committee members convened for a meeting to continue its deliberations over the report on Tuesday afternoon.

Three main motions were presented during the meeting. The first two motions presented by MDP parliamentarians, and the third motion was presented by an opposition PPM parliamentarian.

The first motion was presented by North Thinadhoo MP Abdul Mughnee, which called for stakeholders from different economic sectors to be summoned.

The second motion was presented by Dhuvaafaru MP Ismail Ahmed, which called for the committee to hold discussions with the members of Salaries and Wages Advisory Board as soon as possible, and to hold off decisions regarding summoning any other parties, if required, until after.

The last motion was presented by PPM’s deputy leader, Naifaru MP Ahmed Shiyam, which called for the national minimum wage to be set to MVR 10,000.

Only the second motion, which called for the Salaries and Wages Advisory Board to be summoned, passed.

SHIYAM’S MOTION REJECTED

Shiyam had argued that the current administration, during its 2018 presidential campaign, had pledged to set MVR 10,000 as a national minimum wage, but that the Board had recommended setting a lower minimum wage rate.

“I saw MVR 10,000 as the minimum wage in the government’s pledges, [and] written on banners. Why are we discriminating between individual sectors? I propose the minimum wage be set to MVR 10,000, in accordance with the government’s pledge at the time, applicable to all sectors.

Shiyam said that setting a minimum wage lower than MVR 10,000 constituted failure of the government to deliver its pledge.

MDP, in the Agenda 19 manifesto it released for its 2019 parliamentary elections campaign, had pledged to set separate minimum wage rates for different sectors. MVR 10,000 had been the minimum wage rate promised to tourism industry workers.

However, some of the campaign posters released by MDP during its 2018 presidential election campaign has promised MVR 10,000 as a national minimum wage rate.

In response to Shiyam’s remarks, MDP parliamentarians at the committee denied making such a promise, and accused Shiyam of altering facts for political gain.

The committee chair, Alifushi MP Mohamed Rasheed Hussain (Bigey), intervened to decide against calling Shiyam’s motion to vote, citing that the report remained under review, and at the information collection phase.

MDP parliamentarians had been voicing against calling the motion to vote at the time.

“The majority of members don’t believe it best to rush into fixing a specific amount as minimum wage without collecting the necessary information first. I find the point being made by the majority of the members to be sound reasoning,” said Bigey.

He said that he would not oppose a vote if Shiyam were to present the motion at a later phase of the review.

Bigey had also decided against calling the first motion, the one presented by Mughnee, to vote. He said that calling Mughnee’s motion to vote was redundant.

The Parliament is scheduled to hold a public forum regarding minimum wage from 8:15 pm 10:30 pm on Wednesday.

Salaries and Wages Advisory Board, formed under Employment Act, is empowered to conduct consultations and research into setting a national minimum wage, and advising the Economic Minister regarding the subject.

And Section 59 (a) of Employment Act empowers the Economic Minister with the authority to issue orders to declare, amend or terminate a minimum wage following review of the advice of the board.

The Board, following months of research and evaluations into setting a minimum wage in Maldives, recommended that the national minimum wage be set to MVR 6,400, and that an amount within the range of MVR 6,400 to MVR 8,600 be set as minimum wage for civil servants and tourism sector employees.

The Board recommended that the minimum wage should be applicable to the basic salary, and that the minimum wage should apply to both foreign workers – after a moratorium period of one to two years - and local workers in order to eliminate discrimination and offer protection to workers from all industrial sectors of the Maldivian economy from within the minimum wage system.

It has also recommended that the rates be reviewed once every five years.