Smith: “Someone dropped the ball” on wage increase delay
Former Deputy Premier and Labour Minister Lorna Smith has expressed deep disappointment at the government’s decision to postpone the much-anticipated increase in the minimum wage in the BVI.
The implementation date was initially set for November 30, but the government deferred it to 2025 due to an unspecified policy matter.
Speaking on ZBVI Radio after the announcement, Smith described the situation as “unfair” and “wrong,” noting that the move has disrupted expectations among employees and employers alike.
“The minimum wage at $8.50 was approved by Cabinet in June. It was then laid on the table of the House of Assembly in July,” Smith explained. She emphasised that the delay was not a result of insufficient planning, stating, “We allowed sufficient time for it to happen.”
The adjustment, which would have increased the hourly rate from $6 to $8.50, was part of a comprehensive strategy announced by Smith during her tenure as Labour Minister. The plan included regular wage reviews, targeted support for small businesses, and workforce development initiatives. Smith highlighted the extensive consultations conducted before finalising the increase, saying, “The minimum wage advisory committee engaged in widespread consultations, including surveys, media interviews and focus groups.”
The delay has come as a blow to workers eagerly anticipating the wage hike, which would have boosted fortnightly earnings for minimum wage workers by $200 for a standard 40-hour workweek. The last increase to the minimum wage in the territory occurred in 2016. “The people of the British Virgin Islands deserve an increase. In 2024, they deserve an increase,” Smith asserted.
The former Labour Minister also pointed to progress made under her leadership in negotiating with supermarkets to establish a basket of affordable basic goods, a measure meant to coincide with the minimum wage increase. “We made significant progress in agreeing to that basket of goods,” she said, adding that discussions were underway to formalise the arrangement through a memorandum of understanding.
While Smith refrained from directly attributing the delay to Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley, she stressed that as the Minister responsible for Labour, he is best positioned to explain the decision. “It would be most appropriate for you to ask him what happened. But it would seem to me that the ball was dropped,” she said.
The Ministry of Financial Services has promised to announce a revised implementation date in the first quarter of 2025.
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This Primer has no interest in the people . Workers were looking forward for the increase Government pensioners are also looking for an increase since the cost of living is so high but he does not care
Then its him…Call out his name
The great BIG youth had to fire her , THE LADY was looking into the best interest of the people , and the youth boi could not allow that to happen ( what he sat goes ) so that was taken as a threat to his dominance ,so he kept his cool and struck at the last moment after he had gotten the ( OK ) from the
3RD DISTRICT REP , that he would do the MOONWALK FROM THE DISORGANIZED OPPOSITION’S PRIVATE WAR OVER POWER / so all those especially JUDGE WIGO who badmouthing her should apologize to the lady , BUT HYPOCRICY IS PROGRAMED IN THEIR MIND , SO THAT WON’T HAPPEN
Any decent employer will still increase those on minimum wage to $8.50 on November 30, they don’t need the law in place to do so.
Better employers will aleady be paying a living wage as opposed to minimum wage so that their staff can afford to live.
Those employers that need the law in place to force them to pay their employees enough to live on should not be in the position of employing people, they are the modern day slave masters.
Thumbs up
Hon. Smith the increase was planned without due consideration for relevant factors. Your opposition colleagues were saying the very same thing to you. An increase in the minimum wage without more comprehensive actions to reduce cost of living achieves nothing except higher prices for the same people that you claim to be trying to help. The prices at Riteway and One Mart would increase because they have to pay their staff as well and that cost has to be passed on.
You were looking votes and popularity and did not pay proper attention. Put in place measures that would reduce or prevent the increase in cost of living and then give the minimum wage increase. This will result in more money in people’s pocket and ultimately a better standard of living.
No blanket statements please. What are the factors?
Don’t let that lady trick you, notice she always in the news now, after she being a sell out while being the labour minister to the trust companies laying off staff to outsource and call it redundancy! She needs to take a hike!
It’s interesting to hear Lorna Smith call the government’s decision “unfair” and “wrong” when her own track record as Labour Minister leaves a lot to be desired. Let’s not forget how, under her leadership, trust companies were allegedly allowed to outsource jobs, leaving local workers displaced through what many of us know were false redundancies.
What’s worse is that Labour never properly investigated these cases, even though so many locals were crying out for help. Instead, it seemed like everything was swept under the rug, with whispers of a cover-up involving S S and MH. How can she now claim to fight for workers’ rights when so many of us were left out in the cold while she was in office?
She talks about fairness and boosting wages, but where was that fairness when locals were losing their jobs to outsourcing? It’s hard to take her words seriously when her actions in the past say something entirely different.
We need leaders who are consistent in standing up for locals—not just when it’s convenient for them. Many of us are tired of the double standards.
How long was she minister?
Trust companies outsourcing jobs is standard practice since Erma.
Unfortunately outsourcing has become a thing and will become more of a problem unless the government can make the BVI easier to do business in. Government departments use archaic or unsuitable systems, low level officers are left to make decisions way above their grade, private companies are treated as a problem rather than a client of the government departments. Need I go on.
Trust companies will accept that it’s expensive to staff their companies down here, it’s part of doing business. What they won’t accept is being treated in the way that they’re treated making it impossible to do business.
There was NO SUPPORT for small business, that is plain out nonsense! You are asking little struggling businesses who haven’t caught a break since IrMaria and COVID to pay for this and that in order to qualify. If you want to help small businesses, put programs in place that allow them to get grants, payment plans etc. with the necessary agencies so that they could eventually catch up. They are struggling for a reason and you only added to that with the requirements. 3 years ago persons with full time jobs, some even with Government got $13K for nothing, NOTHING! Now you are here f**king with the small businesses running them around the mill for a max of $7k. The entire thing was just stupid and the Premier is right to halt it.
If the increase is a Labour Law; went through all the stages to become the law of the land. When was it tabled in the House of Assembly for a Repeal? If it was not, then it is still the Law of the Land.
Secrets, secrets secrets. Everything always is a secret.