| Siti Hajar |
WITH efforts by member countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) gaining momentum towards ratification of the ambitious accord, Brunei Darussalam will embark on setting the minimum wage for workers in the country as part of its commitment to the TPPA.
As a member of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the country will have to fulfil its regulations that are in line with man-dates under the TPPA, said Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MoFAT).
“It is in the pipeline,” he said of the minimum wage legislation.
“It is being looked at and discussed among the relevant government organisations,” he told the Sunday Bulletin in an interview on the sidelines of the outreach programme organised by the MoFAT at the International Convention Centre, yesterday.
Since Brunei’s entry into the ILO in 2007, the government has ratified a number of conventions including the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention as well as the Convention on Minimum Age.
Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade delivering his speech. – BAHYIAH BAKIR
According to the TPPA documents, signatory countries are required to draft into law, among others, acceptable conditions of work with respect to minimum wages, hours of work and occupational safety and health.
Additionally, TPPA countries are expected to also include laws that will allow for the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour and; the elimination of discri-mination in respect of employment and occupation.
The ratification of the deal, which covers a huge free-trade bloc encompassing 40 per cent of the world’s economy, is slated to take place over the next two years.
At present, Brunei has, to an extent, enacted into law aspects of occupational safety and health as well as hours of work but the topic of minimum wage, especially of low-income workers that include locals, has been an on-going issue.
Under the ILO’s Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970, the elements that need to be taken into consideration in determining the level of minimum wages should, so far as possible and appropriate in relation to national practice and conditions, include the needs of the workers and their families taking into account the level of wages in the country, cost of living, social security benefits and relative living standards of other social groups.
Also to be taken into consideration economic factors including the requirements of economic develop-ment, levels of productivity and the desirability of attaining and maintaining a high level of employment.
With the consideration that the topic of minimum wage will be introduced as law, the convention states that the topic should not be subject to abatement and failure to apply them shall make the person, or persons concerned, liable to appropriate penal or other sanctions.
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