Do business owners back minimum wage increase? Concerns expressed
Some business owners in the BVI have expressed support for the government’s decision to increase the territory’s minimum wage from $6 per hour to $8.50.
Following the announcement of the increase scheduled to take place in November, BVI News conducted an informal survey to gauge the response of business owners in various sectors in the territory.
Responses were collected from businesses in the local automotive sector, hospitality, security services, the food services sector, and the media sector, with the majority indicating that the wage increase was long overdue. Some, however, said they would have wanted a longer wait period before the increase comes into effect.
Many business owners stated their employees were already being paid at or above the new rate, meaning this increase will not affect them, while others said they are currently paying above the $6 minimum wage.
One operator of a local security business told our news centre that they may have to increase the price of their services to determine whether they will pay their employees at or above the new wage increase.
What about business that allow tips and gratuity for staff?
On the other hand, there have been some concerns within the hospitality sector about the wage increase, with one business owner suggesting that special considerations should be made for hospitality businesses.
“My feelings were that in my industry, even though I expected the increase, I thought that in the hospitality industry, where you also have tips and service charges that help to make up somebody’s wages, would have been taken into consideration, which they haven’t,” said a business owner in the local hospitality sector, who, like all the respondents, spoke to our news centre on the condition of anonymity.
Opposition spokesperson on Financial Services and Macro-Economic Planning, Myron Walwyn, recently expressed concerns about the wage increase and suggested that the government should have considered other measures such as raising the current $10,000 tax exemption threshold. The tax exemption threshold allows employees to earn their first $10,000 annually untaxed.
However, Deputy Premier and Minister for Financial Services and Labour, Lorna Smith, said the concerns about the tax exemption will be addressed in a wage increase report tomorrow, Tuesday, July 16.
The last minimum wage increase occurred in October 2016, rising from $4 per hour to $6 per hour under the previous National Democratic Party administration.
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Those business owners who say they already pay above minimum wage are not fully understanding their issue. You will now have to raise all your employees if the entry pay per hour was lower than $8.50. You can’t pay an employee who was making $8.50 per hour before the minimum wage increase the same as a new employee and that will start at $8.50. You will lose your workers.
Myron is wrong to complain. The wage increase is justified.
It is not true that the service industry workers will be overpaid after this minimum wage increase, when service charges and tips are taken into account. IF the jobs were already hugely paying and attractive, then they would be filled with BVIslanders earning good money. But they’re not. The vast majority of service industry workers (who know what good service means) are not from the BVI and have to make do with unsocial hours, poor pay and times when they are let go (COVID and Irma to name two recent incidents).
Good employers were already paying well above the legal minimum. Bad employers will always moan.
I don’t think you understand what Myron is saying. From what I gathered, he is not against the increase. He is against it being done without the other safeguards in place to reduce cost of living so that people could have more disposable income. That is his point.
Additionally, he raised concerns about struggling small businesses that will have problems. These businesses have been asking for some support through the business bureau and that has not happened but here is this additional cost on top of their struggles. These are legitimate concerns.
The suggestion of raising the taxable ceiling could have been good middle ground until all the pieces were in place to reduce cost of living and giving an increase in wages. What prevents the supermarkets from increasing their prices since this increase is coming? What prevents the Landlord from raising their rent? What prevents the gas station from raising the cost per gallon? NOTHING! That raise could evaporate in an instant!
Your point on raising the tax threshhold is valid.
But “small” businesses in the BVI have always been complaining that they need support. Government can much better spend its money on helping the whole country (infrastructure) rather than a sub-sector of it.
Regarding the high cost-of-living, all governments have been dealing with the same issues. But, fundamentally, distorting the market by getting government overly involved is a bad idea and has led to other countries going bankrupt as a result of economic imbalances. Consumers DO need protection, in many ways, but that does not mean price-fixing dictated by bureaucrats.
Ask Hes and Mk my words
Hospitality business owners have no right to complain. It has been a common practice for years to keep someone on their pay roll at the same salary for 10-15-20 years with no increases. Asking for gratuity and tips to compliment and make up salaries is not allowed. that is money that is earned regardless and even then Business owners are taking percentages off the top of tips and gratuity and still looking to take a fractional take (often very large ) of the gratuity and tips the staff have rightfully earned. Somebody need to expose what is really going on.
And Myron is right. I agree the threshold should be moved to accommodate the change on what amount of money should be tax free. The supermarkets and Banks don’t give 2 $#its about an increase and will still look to up the prices on poor quality goods and appalling customer service. The cost of everything will go up to match. we just moving from poor to a higher status of poor.
Exactly!!
Where did the dynamics change follow me a moment. A person creates a business to be their own boss which is a dream for most people.
They can’t operate business by themselves so they must hire a workforce for their business.
Imagine they hire you to MAXIMIZE the profits for the OWNER. But the OWNERS must pay you juuuust enough to keep a roof and to feed yourself.
Not to pay you livable wages so you may save and advance your own goals or family. NOPE! Pay you just enough to barely survive smh EVIL COMES IN MANY FORMS. EVIL wears expensive clothing or cheap clothing. EVIL has all the accolades life can offer or it has none.
You do not have a real business if you are using low pay to subsidise your profits. $20 an hour or more is minimum to have any quality if life of live in the VI. In past times low or no pay was used to extract large profits from these islands. Businesses that dot not pay properly to profit themselves are morally bankrupt.
Did the business owners, and others in the community, asked the public at large,if it was fair for day-to-day services to increase, while the minimum wage, remained constant?
I read of not one business, who gave a damn about the public sentiments on these issues!
Therefore, since we, the public, were not informed of societal increases, nor was given the opportunity to bemoan such realities, there should be no business owner’ responses to the wage increases, that’s worth recording, or repeating!
They All playing games and take us for fools. Who in the BVI works for less than $8;50 per maybe? Maybe just 1% of the people…Can’t trust Lorna. I support an increase in the tax exemption as a supplement for low income makers only.
Everyone seems to think that being an employee means a business must pay you enough money to live the life you want to live. So you are only able to get a job at a small variety store that makes $300 a day if they’re lucky and you want to live big life, that business should find a way to pay you $3k a month despite not making that? Employees have a resopnsibility as well. How about working on yourselve and making your services more valuable? You sit in a job for 10 years, no imporovement and complain about a salary? If you think you should be paid more then go out and seek more. The market dictates the price of everything, not emotions. Many employees will get a rude awakening very soon when they realize government cannot control businesses.
Y’all need to hide that fact of the minimum wage being $8.50, it’s actually embarrassing.
They going to bawl and say you killing them for making them pay their staff more money. Almost all goods and services sold in the BVI is either almost or double the actual retail price or average price. So the customer paying double the price and you still don’t want to pay your staff a livable wage. That’s why a lot of people just don’t even move back here when they done school.
Wake up the climate change agenda 2030 fixes everything so you don’t need to worry about cost or wages. These wicked people use an invisible virus to kill billions. Where is corona and COVID did they kill the parents and leave the uncle and cousins because omicron is an uncle of COVID according to the people in charge of your health
Some people who works like more than 10 hours a day only received less than 6 dollars per hour. most of them are those working in those clothing and shoes shop in town.