Malé, Maldives — Maldives Trade Union Congress has expressed concerns saying that the government is trying to include some of the allowances in determining the employees minimum wage.
Speaking at a meeting held yesterday by the Trade Union, the General Secretary of the administration and the member to represent Trade Union on minimum wage board, Fathimath Zimna states that the discussions they have so far had with the government implies that the government wishes to include allowances in determining the minimum wages.
This is because if minimum wage is decided for civil service employees, then the government’s expenditure on them would further increase. However, Zimna stated that if allowances are included in determining the minimum wage, then the social security of the employees would decrease.
Zimna stated that if allowances are included in minimum wage, then the employees are likely to face a lot of financial problems.
A statement released by the Trade Union stated that if the minimum wage is decided including the employee’s allowances, then the original purpose of deciding minimum wage would be lost. The Union stated that the difference excuses government is giving to delay in deciding the minimum wage is an injustice being done to the employees.
The government divided minimum wages to three different categories between MVR 4,000 and MVR 8,500. The first category is between MVR 8,500 and 8,000, second category has MVR 6,500 and 6,000 and MVR 4,500 and MVR 4,000 for the third category.
