The Minister of Labour and Manpower Development, Agnes NyaLonje, on Monday announced the gazetting of the new minimum wages, with a stern warning to deal with unscrupulous employers who defy the gazetted wages.
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NyaLonje told journalists in Lilongwe that the new minimum wages have been formulated to respond to and protect the interests of both the employers and workers.
“The new minimum wages have been categorized in four groups. We have minimum wages for dry and wet cargo, which breaks down the minimum wages for three categories of drivers, the drivers or drivers at times and above and drive between Malawi and other countries. So, the international drivers for them, they say minimum wage of K234, 500, MK167, 500 for local truck drivers and MK100, 500 for drivers of trucks below 30 tons and ply their trade within Malawi,” she said.
Turning to general minimum wages, NyaLonje said the government has raised their minimum wages to MK3, 461 per day, which translates into MK90, 000, a month. Then the third is the wages or minimum wages for domestic workers. And this is now the new minimum wage is MK2, 000 per day, translating into MK52, 000.
The minister was, however, quick to point out that in setting these minimum wages, the government is not saying this is the set wage that people should be given.
“What we’re saying is that let us not pay anybody below the minimum wage. There’s a reason for that. It is the role of a government through my ministry to protect workers. And a big part of protecting workers is making sure that workers and their families are not living below the poverty line because when somebody works, they expect to receive a wage,” she said.
NyaLonje warned that her minister would deal with any employer who intentionally defies the law on minimum wage.
“Anybody who fails to abide by the law is attracting trouble because we, as Minister of Labor on behalf of the government are intending to step up inspections to make sure that employers adhere to the minimum wages. Because let me say, one or two things about why minimum wages are important. For an economy to grow, you need that economy, productive and productivity doesn’t happen without what workers to workers are the heart of productivity because workers who take all other factors of production and turn them into goods and services.
“So it’s very important that the government attempts to maintain a balance between the needs of workers and their families and the needs of business, but at the same time, I’ve got the government maintaining a course of developing the economy. It is to strike a balance between the need for businesses to survive, but also the need for workers to survive. So that they can continue to work. So enforcement of the law that we’ve set through these concepts is extremely important to ensuring that those objectives, collective objectives of workers, employers, and government can be achieved,” emphasized the minister.
