Minister wants cabinet to fund wage board

LABOUR Minister Mark Maipakai will ask cabinet to fund the establishment of a minimum wage board.
Maipakai said this last Friday during the handover ceremony with outgoing minister and former Kavieng parliamentarian Martin Aini.
He said the prices of goods and services were increasing and the minimum wage review and adjustment was very important.
“We all know that now the prime minister or minister cannot change the minimum wages. It is only the minimum wage board,” Maipakai said.
He said he had been advised that the department had already made a submission and he would now take that up to cabinet.
He said he would be meeting his department staff for a briefing this week.
Maipakai, who is not new to the department, having served as minister of labour from 2008 to 2011, said he would carry on from the initiative left by Aini to create industrial harmony with all stakeholders.
Aini urged Maipakai to continue the work he had left behind.
Aini said he was confident Maipakai would continue with what he had left because he was not new to the department.
He said the labour ministry and department were very important and despite being overlooked, it played an important role in the country’s economy and development.