South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The transitional unity government on Tuesday said that it is working on establishing minimum wage policy in order to protect workers from exploitation at the workplace.
Mary Hillary Wani Pitia, the Undersecretary in Ministry of Labour and Industrial Relation said during the opening of the two-day consultative dialogue in Juba, that they are working with the International Labor Organization (ILO) to develop the minimum wage policy.
“We from the ministry of labor are having a consultative workshop to come out with minimum wage policy for the republic of South Sudan, we are keen to develop a minimum wage policy which is important for us at this time, given the fact that we have been having astronomical inflation in the country, the cost of living is skyrocketing and the wages are not able to meet the cost of living in South Sudan,” Pitia said.
She said that the ministry of labor is currently comparing the wages of nationals and their international counterparts in different NGOs and companies in the private sector in the country in a bid to improve the payment of nationals.
Pitia said that they have been receiving complaints from nationals working in the NGO and the private sector about disparities in wages.
“There is always a complaint from nationals that their wages are far lower than what is given to their counterparts coming from other countries,” Pitia said.
“We are mostly looking at the private sector, the NGO and companies that are operational in South Sudan, but all in all the minimum wage for a country should also apply even for the civil service because they are workers within the same country and labor encompasses both the private and the public sector,” she disclosed.
Pitia said that developing the minimum wage will take about 6 months, adding that once the policy is adopted by the government the employers will have to implement it across the country.
“I think this is what will benefit the workers of South Sudan both in the private sector and even the civil service,” she said.
Guillaume Delautre, the International Labor Organization Expert on Wages and Social Dialogue said that he is in the country to help the workers union, employers association and the government to establish minimum wage policy in the country.
The minimum wage policy once put in place will enable workers to be in position to buy basic needs such as food and also afford health care services, adding that it will also help employers to define the capacity to produce.
“If wages are too high it becomes very difficult for employers to pay their employees,” Delautre said.
