by TREVOR YEARWOOD

WORKERS STRUGGLING to make ends meet at the bottom of the economic scale need a special pay hike.

Minister of Trade George Hutson made this point yesterday, saying these people had been holding pressure for a while and some were "in a desperate situation".

But while not advocating a pay freeze at the top of the scale, he suggested that top earners should now "hold strain".

He told reporters that Government could not offer support to stabilise prices indefinitely, but "adjustment" for lower-paid workers was an option open to the public and private sectors.

He mentioned people with take-home pay of $180 a week among those in need of help.

"I have said before that people at the top end of the economic scale need to hold some strain and people at the bottom [need] to be able to get some adjustment,"
he commented.

"I think that we have to spread the cost increases across the whole society and not have one particular sector of society carrying the brunt.

"We can't have all the pressure to be on the people at the bottom end of the economic scale. I don't think that is a fair response."

The biggest labour organiser, the Barbados Workers' Union (BWU), had a cautious response to the comments, but president of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dick Stoute, said Hutson's suggestion was "a good idea" that should be looked at.

Meanwhile, BWU deputy general secretary Robert "Bobby" Morris said: "The Barbados Workers' Union would be very pleased to hear how this statement is going to be applied to Government negotiations effective from the first of April this year and which set a model and a pattern for private sector negotiation.

"We would also be pleased to hear a response from the private sector about this statement from the minister."

Stoute said that based on past pay increases, "it looks as though there is room for managers or persons at the top of the pay scale to hold strain, while we try to ease pain at the lower end".

But he stressed that the productivity level, one factor in determining product and service prices, also had to be taken into consideration. Hutson's suggestion was "a good idea and we need to investigate it", Stoute said.

Hutson made the comments during a break in a workshop organised by the Ministry of Trade and the Commonwealth Secretariat at Grand Barbados Beach resort. (TY)