Minimum Wage? A-G: No Legal Requirement For Opposition To Stick To Promises
The Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Aiyaz SayedKhaiyum, says there is no legal requirement for political parties to keep their promises when they form Government.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum was responding to a question during the 2018-2019 Post Budget Roadshow at the University of Fiji in Samabula earlier this week. A student questioned some promises made by Opposition parties on increasing the minimum wage rate to $4 or $5.
“Are they required by law to keep these promises or they are just saying it to get our votes?” asked the student. Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said there was no legal requirement for Opposition parties to keep their promises.
“In fact one of them from one of the political party was at the University of the South Pacific a few months back saying that ‘we will increase the rate to $4 an hour, but we know that it may be hard for some small businesses, so the Government will subsidise’. “We can’t subsidise that,” Mr SayedKhaiyum said. Should the minimum wage be increased to $4, which was about double the current rate for the unskilled workers, everybody including the skilled workers will be asking questions that they want their rates double too, the Attorney-General said. Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said he was not saying that they shouldn’t get a pay increase, he clarified that it should be done systematically.
Edited by Ranoba Baoa
A student questioned some promises made by Opposition parties on increasing the minimum wage rate to $4 or $5. “Are they required by law to keep these promises or they are just saying it to get our votes?” asked the student.