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Consultants `studying` minimum wage
2008-03-05 09:24:43
By Austin Beyadi
The government has said it has hired consultants to study the implications of the recently announced but hotly disputed new minimum wage in the private sector.
The study`s findings and recommendations on the appropriate wage are expected to be submitted within two months from Monday next week.
Labour, Employment and Youth Development minister Juma Kapuya said in Dar es Salaam yesterday the government had reached the decision after many private sector employers defaulted on the payment of the wage announced.
He said that, after receiving the consultants` findings and recommendations, the government would convene a three-way ``dialogue`` involving the government, workers and employers to find a solution to the problem.
``While we are waiting for the (University of Dar es Salaam) consultants to complete the assignment, the minimum wage in the private sector will remain as published in the Wage Order vide Government Notice No. 223 of 2007,`` he stated.
He explained that the government has already received recommendations from various stakeholders, among them the national Labour, Economic and Social Council on the new minimum wage.
The Labour ministry had given the council the specific mandate of advising it on the new minimum wage.
Last year the government announced new minimum wage in the private sector, the lowest being 65,000/- for housemaids and the highest 350,000/- for the mineral sector.
The new rates were due to have taken effect last November but were later suspended to January 1 this year after employers asked the government to revisit them.
The government granted the request for some sectors, while exempting some industries from paying the minimum 150,000/- originally set.
However, even after the government had reviewed the rates to a slightly lower level, some employers have either flatly refused to pay the new rates or have retrenched some of their workers.
Contacted for comment on the matter yesterday, Trade Union
Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA) secretary general Nestory Ngulla said they had blessed the conducting of the study ``in order to resolve the chaotic situation in which workers are pitted against employers``.
He explained that the congress had met with the government and the consultants ``in an attempt to explore the modalities of resolving the stalemate over the new minimum wage``.
Ngulla noted that Tucta had asked the government to refrain from exempting anyone from paying the new wage.
``We recommended that any company or institution feeling that it could not pay the requisite amount should talk to its own employees, with a view to reaching a consensus, or seek the government`s intervention,`` he elaborated.
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