00:00 A call tonight for government to legislate basic terms and conditions of work for all
00:04 categories of workers in T&T.
00:07 It comes from General Secretary of the National Trade Union Centre, Michael Aniset, following
00:11 the initial decision by Pennywise to stop paid lunch for some of its workers.
00:16 However, Aniset notes that paid lunch is not a requirement in law.
00:20 Meantime, the Confederation of Business Chambers is calling on government to address the macro
00:25 issues which would have prompted the increase in the minimum wage.
00:28 Radhesa Cutting reports.
00:30 While many enjoy paid lunch and other break periods at work, NATO confirms that paid lunch
00:35 is in fact not mandatory by law in T&T, but rather a feature of bargaining agreements.
00:42 The ILO Convention speaks to that you don't allow somebody to work four hours straight
00:48 without giving them at least a 15 minutes break within that four hour period.
00:52 So you have two breaks within your four hour period that you are working.
00:58 In the context of lunch, some people have working lunch hour, meaning that you will
01:05 get paid.
01:06 It has others that you are not paid for your lunch hour and you go on your lunch.
01:15 It happens in several industries that I am aware of.
01:18 It is what the collective agreement provides for or what contract that you may sign.
01:24 But he believes that government should take a more involved position, since he says some
01:30 employers lack basic ethics.
01:32 The question on the terms and conditions of employment should be legislated in those circumstances
01:41 where there is no majority union.
01:45 And then that will speak to what is the law.
01:48 According to the Minimum Wages Act, the normal work week shall not exceed 40 hours.
01:53 But this does not include meal or rest breaks.
01:57 The Act also says a worker is entitled to a meal break of no less than 45 minutes after
02:02 no more than four and a half consecutive hours, and that a worker on continuous or non-continuous
02:08 shift work is entitled to a paid break of no less than 20 minutes after no more than
02:15 four and a half consecutive hours.
02:17 The topic was thrown into the spotlight following a decision by major cosmetics retailer Pennywise
02:23 not to pay some workers for their lunch hour in order to offset costs associated with the
02:29 increase in the minimum wage from $17 to $20.50.
02:35 But the Confederation of Regional Business Chambers notes that on the heels of COVID,
02:39 forex challenges, fuel hikes, pending electricity increases, property tax and other challenges,
02:46 many businesses are facing dwindling cash flows.
02:50 Chairman Vivek Charan says the fact is, business owners will find somewhere or another to recover
02:56 losses.
02:57 It will have a huge effect on businesses and it ultimately will have an effect on employment.
03:02 Some of the changes that have been made that do not include terminating any employment
03:08 or sending people home would be cutting the hours of work, going on to shift system, which
03:15 is the same thing, so people work maybe less hours, seeing how overtime can be reduced.
03:25 All of this in a sense is good because it shows that you want to keep the number of
03:30 employees that you have, but you're also, which is important, you're also mindful of
03:36 what your overall costs are because you don't want to be swarmed by it.
03:39 He believes the increase of the minimum wage is but a plaster on the sore of a declining
03:43 economy.
03:45 As many categories of workers are experiencing challenges with the cost of living, he's
03:49 calling on the government to address the root causes of the problem.
03:53 The government is doing what they feel they need to do for their financial stability.
03:58 The issue with that is while the government is sorting out, charting a path for their
04:05 financial stability and also cutting their costs where they can, it has an effect on
04:10 us on the other side of the spectrum because by doing so the costs now shift to us.
04:15 The government really needs to find a way to increase their own revenues.
04:20 Second thing is the government needs to, part of that revenue also has to be how they're
04:24 going to increase their earnings of forex.
04:27 Again, how are we going to attract foreign direct investment in the trend balance to
04:32 be good.
04:33 Renasa Kating, TV6 News.
04:36 Now to our People Meter we ask, do you think that employers would seek to use the new minimum
04:41 wage to the disadvantage of workers?
04:44 To vote text YES or NO to the number 7664886 or 7664886.
04:48 We'll have the results for you at the end of this newscast.
04:52 (upbeat music)
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