NEW MINIMUM WAGE DEFERRED FOR A YEAR

It will be another year before workers in the Cayman Islands begin to reap the first fruits of a raised new minimum wage. And even so, it won’t be a blanket across-the-board offer to all workers.

Hon. Minister for Labour Dwayne Seymour announced in Parliament this week, that the new minimum wage will be $KYD 7.00 per hour, up a dollar from the current rate of $KYD 6.00 per hour.

He was responding to questions from Hon. Leader of the Opposition Roy McTaggart on the state of the Minimum Wage Report submitted by a government-appointed advisory committee last November.

However, Mr Seymour pointed out that only hospitality workers will be the beneficiaries of the new minimum wage structure.

“At this time, it was also decided that effective first of July, 2025 employees of the hospitality and service industry will be the only sector to receive an increase in the minimum of $7 per hour,” he stated.

“It was also decided that the current structure for this sector, whereby 25% of the minimum wage can be made up by gratuities will be removed as of the first of July, 2025 for the time being,” he added.

Responding to further probing by Opposition Leader McTaggart, leader of the People’s Progressive Movement(PPM), the Labour Minister disclosed more details on the split approach to raising the minimum wage.

A new advisory committee is to be appointed to look into the issue and report back to the government.

The previous committee, chaired by retired Chief Secretary and businessman Lemuel Hurlston,  was set up in 2022 by then-Minister for Labour Chris Saunders.

“While giving careful consideration to the implications for Caymanians. well as general economic concerns, after much consideration a decision was made to initiate the reactivation of a Minimum Wage Advisory Committee with specific instructions to investigate and recommend a sectoral approach to the minimum wage for the Cayman Islands.”

Mr Seymour sought to reassure that the report of the 2022 Committee is not being rejected.

“It was felt that we couldn’t just do a blanket minimum wage across all sectors because of the economic impact that it may have on Caymanians, who may not see an increase in their own salaries.”

He said, “Until the new Minimum Wage Advisory Committee completes their investigations, all other sectors will remain at the current minimum wage of $6 per hour.”

The minimum wage issue is a recurring and politically delicate matter made more so with campaigning about to start for the next election due in 2025.

In its report which followed extensive public and business consultations, the previous committee had concluded that the minimum wage should be hiked to KYD$8.75 from the $6.00 where it has been for the past seven years.

The comprehensive 154-page document justified the recommended $2.75 increase on the basis that it “considers this a fair wage that would be affordable to most employers and beneficial to low-wage employees” regardless of immigration status.

The Chamber of Commerce had pointed to what it felt was a risk of rising costs to its members from raising the minimum wage. It had instead proposed that “based on our research, increasing the minimum wage to between KYD$ 7.50 and KYD$ 8.00 per hour was supported by most members contacted.”