Dialogue before minimum wage, Moxam urges

| 07/08/2014 | 0 Comments

(CNS Business): The Chamber of Commerce supports the concept of a minimum wage, Johann Moxam, the Chamber president told CNS Business. But he said it was important that there was a detailed and comprehensive discussion with all relevant stakeholders on the way forward and on the impacts of the introduction of minimum wage legislation in the Cayman Islands.

“We would encourage the minister to ensure that the relevant expertise is in place to advice on this matter because getting it wrong is something that the country cannot afford,” he said.

Questions need to be asked before trying to “find a number that will appease people”, he said, such as, is there any sort of conclusive data that is being used to identify the number of Caymanians that the proposed legislation is trying to help?

“The Chamber of Commerce has met with the National Minimum Wage Advisory Council and we can see that there is some work that is being done on this matter. We would encourage them to ensure that there is concrete statistical data to support whatever the policy decision is,” he said, adding that it is still unclear exactly what the policy is attempting to fix.

It’s imperative that this issue is discussed with the widest cross section of people possible, he said, “particularly the business community, because at some point there is a number that businesses just cannot afford.” He said we have to identify what that tipping point is so the minimum wage doesn’t cause more damage that intended.

Tags: , ,

Category: Local Business, Video

Please include your email address in the form below if you are using your real name. You can use a pseudonym, with or without leaving an email address, or just leave the form blank to be "Anonymous". All comments will be moderated before they are published. The CNS Comment Policy is at the top of this page.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.