JNF-The-Working-Class-Struggle-of-Half-a-Century

Nevertheless, what remained of the “superiority complex” on
the part of workers who were not employed in the fields received a shattering
blow in the nineteen forties. As a result of the initiative taken by
the Union, some women employed on estates were earning more than
the average store and grocery clerk. In the late nineteen fifties women
who were hired in weeding gangs of high estates in St. Kitts were getting
six dollars and ten cents per week of five days, while in Basseterre
some clerks were getting five dollars per week of six days. As economic
pressure increased and shop assistants became more keenly aware of
the weakness of their position, they began to find their way into what
was then the “Allied Workers Section” of the Union. Here their difficulties
were aired and discussed. To start the ball rolling, a special call
was sounded to clerical workers to unionise. That was the first step.
The second step was the job of the Union. The case concerning
wages for shop assistants was accordingly tackled. The matter was taken
up with the authorities. In 1963 the Minister appointed a committee
to advise on the level of wages upon which minimum wages legislation
covering shop assistants may be based. The committee consisted of
the Labour Commissioner as Chairman, one member representing the
St. Kitts-Nevis Trades and Labour Union, one representing other merchants,
one representing the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, with
an official from the Department of Labour as secretary. After obtaining
information, the committee submitted its report, in which it recommended
a minimum scale of wages for the workers concerned. To give
effect to the recommendations, the Labour (Minimum Wage) (Shop
Assistants) Order, 1965 was made and came into effect on 1 st August of
that year.
The minimum wages were fixed as follows: (a) Cashiers $15 per
week, (b) Counter Clerks $12 per week (c) Store boys/Messengers
$7.50 per week (d) Probationary Clerks 75 % of the minimum weekly
wage of Counter Clerk for the first four months in the case of persons
without previous experience. Four years later another wage order was
made relating to the employment of domestic servants.
House Servants and Hotel Staff
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