by Linda Straker
- New collective agreement and the minimum wage order came into effect on 1 January 2024
- Cooks will receive increase in wage consistent with minimum wage
- Affected workers will receive retroactive pay for January and February
Education Minister David Andrew said that cooks attached to the School Feeding Programme could not receive adjusted wages for the first 2 months of 2024 because legal clarity was required to ensure that a new collective agreement signed on their behalf was in harmony with the new minimum wage order.
The agreement and the minimum wage order came into effect on 1 January 2024. The minimum wage order mandates that each employee in Grenada receive a minimum monthly wage starting at EC$1,200. Several of the cooks’ wages were less than the new minimum wage.
“We are aware that the minimum wage order took effect on 1 January, notwithstanding that there were some challenges that required clarity and clarification between the Department of Public Administration and Legal Affairs for the correct interpretation as it pertains to some category of workers,” Andrew said during a news conference on Friday.
“Coming to the end of last year there was a negotiation between the union that represented the cooks and there was an agreement to have an increased salary. Now, there had to be clarity given as to whether or not that increase was given before the minimum wage or after the minimum wage adjustment,” said the education minister.
A Government news release dated May 2023 said that the Grenada Manual, Maritime and Intellectual Workers’ Union (GMMIWU) bargained and accepted Government’s proposal for increases of 4% for the year 2024 and 5% for the year 2025, having previously signed in 2020 to receive a 4% increase for the year 2023. This union represents workers at the Mt Reuil Estate, Laura Estate and unestablished cooks attached to the School Feeding Programme.
“We did not want to proceed without that clear directive from the appropriate authorities. We don’t just preside over those things because we need the proper interpretation, and so there were elements of back-and-forth to get the clarity,” he said, pointing out that applying a new legal requirement comes with challenges.
“As you will appreciate, when you have new legislation that is coming in for the first time, there are always going to be areas of grey that you have to take time to iron out appropriately because the interpretation has to stand thereafter for several years, except there is another policy change,” he said. “I am pleased to report that we have since received the clarification sought, and cooks will receive the increase in wages consistent with the minimum wage. They will receive no less than the EC$1,200 minimum, and they will also receive the 4%, which I think was part of the negotiated sum going forward.”
“To those who have not received it, I am reliably informed… that they will be receiving the adjusted payment we hope by the first bimonthly this month, so that issue will be put to rest with the increases,” he said, confirming that the affected workers will also receive retroactive pay for January and February.
