July 2018

Qatar presents efforts to develop expat labour sector
The State of Qatar on Thursday reviewed the latest in its continuous efforts of developing the expatriate labour sector, including that of Africa.
This came during the Qatari delegation’s participation in an international conference to promote intra-regional labour mobility within Africa and to protect the fundamental human, labour; and social rights of workers migrating within the continent and from Africa. ”
The Qatari delegation was led by the Director of International Cooperation Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Tariq bin Ali al-Ansari, with representatives from Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs.
During the presentation, the ambassador highlighted the indications, ratios and data related to the development of laws and national committees.
The national committees work on protecting rights, labour salaries, determining working hours, securing social security and basic services such as health, mobility and obtaining services to choose business sectors from accredited offices, all in compliance with global commitments and agreements signed with countries who provide expatriate labour, al-Ansari said.
Source: Gulf Times


South Korea to raise the minimum wage by 11%
South Korea on Saturday (Jul 14) decided to raise the minimum wage by 10.9 per cent to 8,350 won (US$7.40) an hour next year but a small-business group said it would refuse to implement the reform as its members were already grappling with a slowing economy.
South Korea’s labour-friendly President Moon Jae-in has pledged to raise the minimum wage by 55 per cent to 10,000 won per hour by 2020 as part of efforts to boost consumption and growth.
South Korea added a monthly average of 142,000 jobs between January and June this year, the slowest growth seen since the 2008-09 global financial crisis, according to Statistics Korea.
Source: Channel News Asia


Maryland minimum wage goes up and new laws take effect
Maryland’s minimum wage is going up.
The new $10.10 an hour wage went into effect Sunday.
It’s the last of the phased-in increases that were set by Maryland lawmakers in 2014. The first increase from $7.25 to $8 took place in 2015. It increased three times after that, to $8.25 in July 2015, to $8.75 in July 2016 and $9.25 last July.
Some lawmakers have pushed for increasing the minimum wage again, but the legislation stalled this year. Ben Jealous, the Democratic candidate for governor, supports increasing the minimum wage to $15.
Source: The Baltimore Sun


San Francisco’s Minimum Wage Hits $15
San Francisco’s minimum wage hit $15.00 an hour on Sunday, making it the first major city in the U.S. to reach that mark.
It’s an increase from $14.00
San Francisco voters passed the initiative to raise the minimum wage in 2014.
According to the city administrator’s office, San Francisco’s unemployment rates have fallen to historic lows since the minimum wage began increasing in 2015
in April of this year, it was just 2%.
Every July from now on, the wage rate will be adjusted based on annual increases in the consumer price index.
Source: WLTZ First News


Basic income grant more morally just and effective than minimum wage
The debate around the implementation of a national minimum wage has heated up in recent weeks. The government originally planned to begin enforcing a minimum wage of R20 per hour – equal to R3,500 per month for a full-time employee – on May 1, but a series of delays meant the National Assembly only adopted the National Minimum Wage Bill on May 29. Despite the delay, with the National Council of Provinces set to concur, SA is expected to have a nationwide minimum wage within the next few months.
In response to the government’s plans for a uniformly enforced minimum wage that would, conveniently, only exclude the government’s own Expanded Public Works Programme and certain categories of farm and domestic workers, the DA has argued for a different approach.
The official opposition’s proposal calls for individual workers to be allowed to opt out and on their own volition accept salaries lower than the minimum wage, and for a more nuanced approach where different economic sectors are subject to different minimums.
Source: Business Day


Minimum wage increase now in effect 
The bump in pay is the result of an ordinance passed by the City Council in December 2014, which called for the city’s minimum wage to increase gradually, by $1 a year, for non-tipped employees.
This past Sunday, the minimum wage for many non-tipped workers in Chicago jumped from $11 to $12 an hour, according to a statement released by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office last month.
According to the schedule set in the ordinance, the minimum wage was due to increase from $8.25 in 2014 to $13 in 2019, with each pay increase taking effect on July 1 each year during that period.
Source: Austin Weekly News


South Korea tackles the workaholic culture with new labour law
South Korea is embarking on its own labour reforms to reduce overwork, resorting to draconian punishments on violators, but companies worried about greater costs may not necessarily increase hiring as hoped for by the government.
The revised law that went into effect Sunday slashes the maximum workweek to 52 hours from 68 for companies with 300 employees or more — equal to 12 hours of overtime. Violations will cost employers up to two years in prison or a fine of 20 million won ($17,882).
Source: Nikkei Asian Review


Beijing’s Minimum Wage Rises on September 1
On June 29, Beijing’s Human Resources and Social Security Bureau announced that the city will increase its minimum wage, effective September 1, 2018.
Beijing will increase the monthly minimum wage from RMB 2,000 (US$300.57) to RMB 2,120 (US$318.60), and the hourly minimum wage from RMB 22 (US$3.31) to RMB 24 (US$3.61).
The wage hike of RMB 120 (US$18.03) per month is similar to last year’s increase when the city raised minimum wages by RMB 110 (US$16.53) per month.
Given the cost of living in Beijing and the nature of its economy, most workers in the city are paid according to market rates rather than minimum wages.
Source: China Briefing 


Trade unions call for a revision in minimum wage
Various trade union federations have demanded the government revise the minimum wage for workers it had announced recently.
Nepal Trade Union Federation Independent, the Socialist Democratic Trade Union Federation, the National Democratic Trade Union Federation, the Independent Democratic Trade Union Federation, among other trade union organisations, have placed this demand before the government through a press release on Wednesday.
Source: Himalayan Times


New Jersey 2018 Legislative Update: 11 Bills That Employers Should Watch
On January 16, 2018, Democratic candidate Phil Murphy was sworn in as the 56th governor of the State of New Jersey, replacing Republican former governor Chris Christie. As reflected in the Report of the Labor and Workforce Development Transition Advisory Committee, Governor Murphy’s administration is poised to advance legislation that will have a significant impact on employers doing business in New Jersey. From raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour to curbing employee misclassification abuse, employers large and small can expect new legislation impacting the employer-employee relationship. In fact, in just his first six months in office, Governor Murphy has already signed into law one of the most expansive pay equity laws in the nation as well as a law that provides paid sick leave for New Jersey employees.
We have outlined several significant bills that have been introduced thus far in New Jersey’s 2018–2019 legislative session. Many of these bills failed to pass under the Christie administration but stand a much better chance of success under Governor Murphy.
Source: JDS Pura


Give national minimum wage a chance – Treasury
The current proposed national wage formula is different from the data set National Treasury used to develop its initial calculations on the impact of the policy on jobs and the economy, and the policy should be given a chance in its current form.
This is according to National Treasury, amid much speculation regarding how the national minimum wage will affect both the economy and jobs in the long term.
Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane recently sought clarity from President Cyril Ramaphosa on this through a written question in Parliament.
The national minimum wage will locate its legislative power within the National Minimum Wage Bill, the Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Bill and the Labour Relations Amendment Bill, which are currently before Parliament.
Responding to questions from Fin24, National Treasury said the impact of the national minimum wage on the economy and jobs would vary, depending on the economic circumstances when it is introduced – not purely on model projections.
Source: Fin24


Labour law passed without setting new minimum wage
Members of the Lower Chamber of Parliament on Monday enacted a new labour law that has left it to the Ministry of Labour to set up a minimum wage through a ministerial order.
Though several legislators had advised the Minister of Labour to indicate in the new labour law how much will be minimum wage once the new labour law is enacted, they ended up settling on the government’s wish to set the new minimum wage afterwards through a ministerial order.
At Rwf100 per day, the country’s current minimum wage which was set in the 1980s is outdated and out of touch with today’s economic realities.
The revised labour law didn’t change that arrangement, leaving Members of Parliament compelled to hope that the government will this time around move swiftly to set up a new minimum wage.
Source: New Times


San Francisco’s minimum wage is now $15 an hour – here’s how that stacks up to other major cities
San Francisco has raised its minimum wage from $14 to $15 an hour, largely as a response to out-of-control housing prices. The law went into effect on July 1.
An hourly wage of $15 is more than twice the federal rate of $7.25, but it’s still not enough to live in San Francisco comfortably, according to an SFGate analysis of data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. With a minimum-wage job, the numbers suggest, San Franciscans still need to work 160 hours per week to rent a two-bedroom home.
Minimum wage levels differ by city, but many activist groups in other metros are pushing for their own bumps to $15 per hour.
Source: Business Insider


FNJ wants Rs 40k as the minimum wage for journalists
Jul 9, 2018-The Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) has demanded the government to double the existing minimum salary of journalists. The Minimum Wage Fixing Committee (MWFC) has set the minimum salary of journalists at Rs 19,500.
The FNJ wants the minimum wage doubled to Rs 40,000. The Working Journalists’ Welfare Promotion Committee (WJWPC) of the FNJ on Sunday handed over a memorandum of demand to Bal Krishna Ghimire, the member secretary of the MWFC. A meeting of the WJWPC on Saturday had decided to demand the government to set the minimum salary of journalists working for national media at Rs 40,000 and Rs 30,000 for the scribes working for media houses where the Working Journalists Act has not been fully implemented.
Source: The Kathmandu Post


Minimum wage could increase
The tiered structure of national minimum wage for workers over 18 on the Island could be scrapped this autumn, meaning a significant rise for those under 25.
Subject to Tynwald approval, the single hourly rate will rise to £7.85 from 1 October.
£7.83 is currently considered to be the ‘living wage’ for everywhere in the UK outside of London.
Whilst that would only represent a 35p rise for Manx over-25s – who currently earn a minimum of £7.50 per hour – it’s a steeper rise for 18-24-year-olds, who previously were entitled to separate rates based upon age.
Source: Manx Radio the nation’s station


Delaware passes minimum wage hikes

  • Delaware joins the list of states and municipalities to pass minimum wage increases this year. Senate Bill 170, an amendment measure, was signed into law on July 1. Delaware’s rate hikes will increase incrementally over a span of four years, starting with $8.75 and ending at $10.25 an hour.
  • The effective dates of Delaware’s four minimum wage increases fall on Oct. 1 of consecutive years, starting in 2018. The first minimum wage increase to $8.75 an hour, is effective this year. The second increase to $9.25 is effective in 2019; the third step rises to $9.75 in 2020, and the fourth bump increases the wage to $10.25 in 2021. Delaware’s current minimum wage is $8.25. It rose from the federal rate of $7.25 an hour to $7.75 in 2014 and bumped up again to the current rate in 2015.
  • Delaware’s House Bill 483 allows employers to pay 50 cents an hour below the state’s minimum wage to workers under 18 and to those 18 and over during their first 90 consecutive days of employment.

Source: HR Drive


Many Undocumented Workers, There’s No Such Thing As Minimum Wage
Wage violations are commonplace in Chicago. They affect low-paid workers in industries like construction, food service and retail. Immigrants and people of colour are especially vulnerable because they tend to work in more low-income jobs. David, who requested a pseudonym to protect his safety, told In These Times his story.
Twenty-three-year-old David migrated to Chicago in late 2017. His first job was as a busboy at a restaurant on the Northeast Side. His job was to clean tables and bring water to customers. He said at the gig, where he worked earlier this year, he was being paid $6 dollars per hour plus tips.
According to David, he wasn’t receiving tips directly from customers. Instead, he was told he would get a percentage of net sales. This tipping method was never fully explained and left him in a vulnerable position. Some days, he says, he would receive no tips at all. He would be taken off the floor by the owner to clean the apartments above the restaurant during his shift. “She made me clean every apartment. Yet they had nothing to do with my job. Besides, they were not even part of the restaurant,” David recalls.
Although coworkers told him to object to unrelated work requests, they also warned him that refusing could cost him his job.
Source: In These Times


¥26 increase in minimum wage urged 
A labour ministry panel decided early Wednesday to propose raising mandatory minimum hourly wages for fiscal 2018 by ¥26 to ¥874 on a national average, with the growth being the largest since comparable data became available in fiscal 2002.
The size of the hike agreed at a meeting of a subcommittee of the Central Minimum Wages Council that started on Tuesday, is up by one yen from the previous fiscal year. The rate of increase for the year through March 2019 matched the government’s target of around 3 per cent for the third straight year.
Wages must be at or above the mandatory minimum levels for all employees in the nation. Paying wages falling short of the levels is illegal. The panel’s latest decision is good news for part-timers and other nonregular employees as wage levels are believed to be close to the minimum thresholds for many of these workers.
The panel’s proposals call for raising the minimum hourly wage by ¥27 for six of the country’s 47 prefectures, including Tokyo, by ¥26 for 11 prefectures, by ¥25 for 14 prefectures and by ¥23 for the remaining 16 prefectures.
The highest minimum wage would be ¥985, for Tokyo, while the lowest minimum wage would be ¥760, for eight prefectures — Kochi, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Oita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima and Okinawa.
Source: The Japan News


New Zealand PM Ardern Brings Parental Leave Into Spotlight
Back in the Stone Age (1952), controversy surrounded the fact that Lucille Ball appeared in a number of I Love Lucy episodes while pregnant. The guys running CBS in the 50s may have felt a bit awkward about the situation, which would explain the diplomatic word choice in the title of the episode announcing Lucy’s pregnancy: “Lucy Is Enceinte.”
Those were the days when pregnant women in the U.S. had little job protection. Remember, it was only in 1978 that Congress passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which specifically prohibits bias based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. And the Family and Medical Leave Act, which allows 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave, didn’t come along until 1993.
World Leader Has Baby, Takes Six Weeks
Fast forward 66 years from Lucy’s accouchement and where do we find ourselves? Well, it’s a brave new world, folks.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave birth June 21 to daughter Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, and she’s now taking six weeks of leave. Part of the reason Ardern will get back to running the country that quickly is her ability to entrust the baby’s care to her partner, Clarke Gayford, who is a TV and radio broadcaster.
Source: Bloomberg


House approves new national minimum wage
The House of Representatives this afternoon approved the new national minimum wage (NMW) of $7,000 per 40-hour work-week for the lowest paid workers.
The new rate, which becomes effective on Emancipation Day, August 1, will increase the old rate of $6,200, which has been in effect since 2016.
The minimum rate paid to security guards has also been increased, simultaneously as usual, to $9,700, up from $8,854 per week and reflecting a 9.6 per cent increase.
Opening the debate today, Minister of Labour and Social Security, Shahine Robinson, said that it was necessary for her ministry to do a balancing act, in order to protect both the wage-earning employers, as well as the workers earning the NMW.
Source: Jamaica Bserver


Raise minimum wage to RM1,500, but do it gradually
Implementing the RM1,500 minimum wage for the private sector nationwide has to be done gradually as there are many factors involved, says Malaysian Em­­ployers Federation (MEF) executive director Datuk Sham­­suddin Bardan.
He said there are many who are with the ‘assumption’ that the RM1,500 amount must be implemented as soon as possible.
Sham­­suddin said this year the minimum wage was set for a review and the new rate was supposed to be enforced effective July 1, but that failed to pass, with the government addressing other more pressing matters.
He, however, said the federation has constantly proposed increasing the minimum wage.
Source: Yahoo News 


Expats Urge Bahrain to Reconsider Minimum Wage Rule for Dependent Visas
The rule increased the minimum salary requirement of any foreign employee seeking a visa for dependants, such as a wife, husband or children.
Such visas used to be awarded to breadwinners earning at least BD250 a month, but in January it was announced the figure would rise to BD400.
The change only affects new applicants, with those already granted residence permits covered by an amnesty.
However, the amnesty for those earning below the threshold does not cover any new children they might have after the rule was implemented.
Source: Albawaba Business 


Section 4(5) of The Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act
The process of equality is a difficult one. It is long and involves a tremendous amount of collective work of citizens pressuring governments to act in the best interest of the citizens. The process needs to be by the books and activist-oriented and needs continual vigilance on the part of those who want gender equality through equal pay for equal work.
The Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act is a Canadian component of this tradition with the statements relevant to the equality of the persons through equitable compensations. There are a number of considerations to be born in mind about the equitable pay including the skill, the effort, and the responsibility for the work in question – or the work deriving from a particular job.
This particular section, Section 4(5), of the Act involves the consideration of equitable pay through the Governor in Council and regulations on 4 subsections related to prior sections of the Act including Section 4(1), Section 4(2)(a), Section 4(2)(b), and Section 4(3).
Altogether, these look at the assessment for equitable compensation, and the skill, effort, and responsibility for the work tied to conditions, and the qualifications linked to employee recruitment and retention, and the job groups/classes regarding equitable compensation assessment.
In regards to Section 4(5)(a), we can see the emphasis on the need for a proper assessment of the compensation. Previous publications can be seen for an examination of this issue. In the next Section 4(5)(b), we can see the prior discussion incorporated on the need for equal skill, effort, and responsibility to part and parcel of the equality of the sexes in the workplace.
Source: The Good Men Project


Nigeria to announce new minimum wage in August – Union
The President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Mr Bobboi Kaigama, has said that a new figure agreed by the Federal Government and labour to serve as the new minimum wage will be announced in August. Bobboi said in Lagos on Wednesday that the committee working on the minimum wage had almost concluded negotiations on the matter.
The Federal Government had set a September date to roll out the new minimum wage for workers, although the Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige, was recently reported as “double-speaking” on the issue.
Civil servants in Nigeria are eagerly awaiting a wage increase after years of enduring a wage structure, described by analysts as one of the lowest in the world.
But public office holders in Africa’s most populous nation, including members of the bicameral parliament, enjoy some of the biggest wages in the world, according to analysts.
Kaigama said that a tripartite committee meeting was held on Wednesday in Abuja, but refused to elaborate on the issues being discussed at the meeting.
“The tripartite meeting is holding today but I do not want to pre-empt the outcome or the level we have reached in our discussions, otherwise there will be unnecessary anxiety.
Source: Journal du Cameroun.com


The city of Malibu, LA County Raise Minimum Wage to $13.25
The minimum wage was raised on July 1 to $13.25 for all companies within Malibu that have 25 or more employees. During a city council meeting on March 28, 2016, the wage ordinance was adopted and established. The minimum wage increase started gradually, beginning with $10.50 per hour on July 1, 2016, and will end up being $15 per hour by 2020.
Under Malibu’s ordinance, businesses with more than 25 employees are required to meet local minimum wage requirements, such as giving $14.25 per hour starting in 2019, and $15 starting in 2020.
“Malibu is a compassionate, fair-minded community, and we understand there are many people working in the city for whom any increase in their salary makes a difference in their well-being,” said Mayor Rick Mullen in a press statement. “At the same time, by phasing in the increase, we hope to give our local businesses time to adjust to the change.”
Enacted by LA County, small businesses with fewer than 25 employees are given time to adjust, with a one-year delay in implementing the increased minimum wage. However, wages will still increase annually and reach $15 per hour by 2021.
Source: Malibu Times


Guangdong’s Minimum Wages to Increase July 1
Last week, the Guangdong provincial government announced that they will increase the province’s statutory minimum wages from July 1, 2018.
The hike will boost minimum wages in Guangdong, one of China’s wealthiest provinces, by around RMB 200 (US$30.30) per month. It represents the province’s first increase in three years, with the exception of the city of Shenzhen, which administers its wages separately and also increased its minimum wage last year.
Like most regions in China, Guangdong sets different tiers of minimum wages according to the developmental status of the province’s urban clusters.

  • Group A: This is the tier for Guangdong’s most developed cities. In this category, Shenzhen increased the monthly minimum wage from RMB 2,130 (US$322.58) to RMB 2,200 (US$333.18), while Guangzhou will increase it from RMB 1,895 (US$286.99) to RMB 2,100 (US$318.03).
  • Both Shenzhen and Guangzhou will have hourly minimum wages of RMB 20.3 (US$3.07), with Shenzhen’s having increased from RMB 19.5 (US$2.95) and Guangzhou’s from RMB 18.3 (US$2.77).
  • Group B: This tier boasts of cities like Dongguan, Foshan, Zhongshan, and Zhuhai. Here the monthly wage will increase from RMB 1,510 (US$228.68) to RMB 1,720 (US$260.49), and the hourly wage from RMB 14.4 (US$2.18) to RMB 16.4 (US$2.48).
  • Group C: This tier includes the cities of Huizhou, Jiangmen, Shantou, and Zhaoqing, where the monthly wage will increase from RMB 1,350 (US$204.45) to RMB 1,550 (US$234.74), and the hourly wage from RMB 13.3 (US$2.01) to RMB 15.3 (US$2.32).
  • Group D: This tier consists of smaller cities like Chaozhou, Maoming, and Qingyuan, where the monthly wage will increase from RMB 1,210 (US$183.25) to RMB 1,410 (US$213.54), and the hourly wage from RMB 12 (US$1.82) to RMB 14 (US$2.12).

Source: China Briefing