Employers pledge new minimum wage compliance

Employers Consultative Association of Malawi (Ecam) has asked employees to be patient as they wait to start receiving wages in line with the newly gazetted minimum wages.

Ecam executive director George Khaki said this in relation to some employees’ worries that their employers cannot afford to pay the new wages by the end February.

He said: “It’s too early to say because the compliance to the new minimum wage is supposed to start this month of February.

“Our association has over 250 members and we expect all of them to comply.”

But Chimwemwe Bwanali, a shop owner at Lunzu Trading Centre in Blantyre who has five employees, said complying with the new minimum wage could lead to closure of his business.

“It is a good idea, but it is difficult for small-scale business owners to comply,” he said.

But in an interview, Chamber of Small and Medium Businesses Association executive secretary James Chiutsi said the increase in minimum wage cannot match with the earnings that most SMEs generate.

Minister of Labour Agnes NyaLonje, who gazetted the new minimum wage on January 16 this year, urged employers to comply with the law.

The minimum have moved from K50 000 to K90, 000 per month for those working in companies and from K38 000 to K52 000 per month for domestic workers.