Bill to increase minimum wage of private sector employees discussed at Ministerial Consultative Committee on Labour

The Bill to amend the National Minimum Wage for Private Sector Employees in Sri Lanka was discussed at the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Labour chaired by the Hon. Minister of Labour Nimal Siripala de Silva yesterday.

Accordingly, it is intended to amend Section 03 of the Minimum Wage of Employees Act No. 03 of 2016 to increase the current minimum monthly wage from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 12,500 and the minimum daily wage from Rs. 400 to Rs. 500.

The committee observed that this Bill does not fall under any prohibition or restriction imposed by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and that the Attorney General's statutory certification has been referred attesting that it is in accordance with the Constitution. Thus, the Committee drew its attention towards referring the Bill to the House for approval.

The Annual Report of the Employees Provident Fund for the year 2017 and the Annual Report of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health for the year 2018 were also submitted to the Committee.

Hon. State Minister Piyankara Jayaratne, Hon. Members of Parliament Jagath Pushpakumara, Rajika Wickramasinghe, Kokila Harshani Gunawardena, Secretary to the Ministry of Labour and other public officials were also present at this Committee.