Haiti raises minimum wage

By Senabri Silvestre

SANTO DOMINGO, Dom. Rep. (AA) – Hatian President Joceleme Privert increased the country’s minimum wage to improve the living conditions of residents and meet demands for better payment in some sectors, according to a decree.

The measure contained in a decree by the interim head of the state, the prime minister and the minister of labour, benefit workers in the industrial, private and service sectors.

It applies retroactively to May 1 for an eight-hour working day from 240 gourdes ($3.87) to 375 gourdes ($6.05) for the highest sector workers, according to local media. Workers in different sectors will receive varying increases.

"In determining the minimum wage, the state is required to take into account the realities and the sector´s dynamic," according to the document published Tuesday on the government's website.

Hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of Port-au-Prince on May 1 to demand an increase in the minimum wage to 500 gourdes.

A strike by the health sector, which has conducted the job action since March 28 at most state-run hospitals has lead to the deaths of at least two patients because of a lack of medical care.

Earlier this week a 3-year-old girl died at the Hospital of the State University of Haiti after failing to receive medical care, according to Haiti Libre newspaper.

And earlier this month a pregnant woman fell dead at the gates of the same hospital after she didn’t receive medical assistance.