Solomon Islands businesses are pushing for an incremental increase to the doubling of the national minimum wage.
Photo: ppart/123RF
The government has proposed increasing the minimum wage this year from 50 US cents to web use $US1.
The announcement took the business community by surprise and the government was criticised for not following the proper process for reviewing the minimum wage.
Atenasi Ata of the Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry suggested implementing the increase over two years but their main aim is to have a say in the process.
"You could say it was out of the blue. There was no prior consultation on the side of the Labour Advisory Board to come up with a figure. None of us dispute that there is a need for a review. I guess just the process and the implementation time frame is our key concern.
"If it is something that can be phased in say up to six (Solomon Islands) dollars for twelve months and then up to 8 dollars over the next 24 months. So the implementation time frame is something that we are keen to also direct."