Food absorbs a huge chunk of an individual's budget.-FileAyanna Kirton, Staff Reporter
AS THE Government deliberates an increase in the national minimum wage, the cost of living continues to escalate.
Imagine working a nine-hour job five to six days every week, and surviving on $11,000 a month. As difficult as this may seem, many people have no alternative but to endure such low-paying jobs.
Take for instance, Andrew, a 29-year-old server and busboy, who has worked in the catering business for the past two years and takes home $11,000 at the end of the month. His salary is just $3,800 more than the national minimum wage and he survives on the bare necessities.
"I have to cut back on everything ... even food ... to get by," says Andrew who, despite his meagre salary, manages to save on average $800 a month. His financial situation has taught him how to live on very little, accounting for every dollar spent, and often sacrificing clothes, entertainment and other social activities.
Andrew explained that he found a second job, which would have paid between $1,500 and $8,500 per month to supplement his current income. However, because of the long hours of his regular job he was unable to take advantage of the opportunity. "My regular job ends at about 8 p.m., the second one begins at 5:00 or 6:00 p.m., so I'm stuck with $870 until ... sometimes I end up with far less."
Janet, a 45-year-old mother of three, will be out of a job in the next month. "The lady I work with is going to migrate at the end of next month and I don't know what I going to do ... is sorry she sorry fi mi and pay me $1,000 a day."
Janet works four days a week in two different homes as a household helper. She lives with two of her children who attend secondary school. Her oldest child is 25 years old and lives in the United States. "She send money when she can but I can't depend on her all the time. The other two have to go to school one of dem father get kill in foreign and the other one have him own family. Although he helps sometimes ... is mostly me one," she said.
"I don't know how dem expect people to live like this. You work so hard and you can barely pay for food to eat. It is hard to save money but I teach the children to do with what dem have," Janet added. She recently bought a cellular telephone, which doubles as a telephone for their home. "It works out much cheaper than having a regular one. You don't have to pay rental and you talk as long as there is money on the card so you don't go over your limit," she said.
Janet admits that she worries a lot about her children's future and what will become of them. "My oldest son is 16 and I don't want him to sell no drugs or turn gunman but sometimes it hard to blame some of them. A lot of them want to do better but no job is there, no money is there," she laments.
Stephen, a security guard with Allied Protection Ltd., works an average of 60 hours a week and is paid $9,850 every two weeks. Unlike Andrew, he has a child to support, which makes his monthly expenses notably higher. "I have to cut back on everything: phone calls, lunch, sometimes I don't buy a drink, every little thing will make a difference."
He is also facing another predicament. In May 2002, he was among security guards who received a memorandum from the chairman of Allied Prot-ection, advising that although the company did not object to any of its employees joining a trade union, they should not be "fooled by promises that cannot be realised". Those "promises" are the current efforts being spearheaded by the trade unions to have the working hours of security guards reduced to 40 hours a week, with additional payment for working overtime. The memo further explained that clients would be unable to afford such high costs for security, which would in turn cause the guards to lose their income.
"The job is very stressful and I have problems with my nerves because I have to be awake for long hours at a time. We don't get paid enough for the work we do," he said. His hours often consist of back-to-back shifts, 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., and 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Stephen, clearly frustrated with his job, complains about the conditions under which he is required to work. "We get no sick leave and no vacation time. Management says we are contract workers so we are not entitled to anything. They will do everything so we don't get any benefits."
According to Stephen, he is paid $85.70 per hour for the first 80 hours he works every month. After 80 hours, the rate is substantially lower, $70.70 per hour for any additional time. "As far as I know that is illegal. We are supposed to be paid the same rate for the whole month," he said. He has been looking for a new job, one with regular hours but has been unsuccessful.
"The pay is worse than this so I will have to continue looking. Only hope makes me hang on," he said.
The last minimum wage increase was a 50 per cent raise, which moved it from $1,200 per week to $1,800 on January 7, 2002. This created a new minimum rate of $45 per hour for a 40-hour work week instead of $30 per hour. The minimum hourly rate for industrial security guards also moved from $50.50 per hour to $70.70.
The $600 increase fell short of the 100 per cent hike recommended by the National Workers Union, which argued that the increase would have been necessary to lift the rate above the poverty line.
(Names changed to protect identity)
