New wage law flawed: study
Observers and advocates on March 22 flagged several violations of international human and workers’ rights in the Kingdom’s draft minimum wage law, calling for the removal of clauses that would impinge on workers’ right to assembly and freedom of expression. The draft law looks to widen the scope of the country’s minimum wage mechanism, which currently covers only garment workers, by creating a National Minimum Wage Council for other sectors. Released last year, the draft has already been denounced by unions and labour rights groups alike, for its restrictive and punitive clauses. Similar anxiety was expressed during the passage of the Trade Union Law, and was ultimately ignored by the government. A legal analysis of the draft law, while lauding the creation of a national minimum wage, found that it would undermine and potentially criminalise the work of unions, labour rights activists and civil society groups by barring peaceful demonstrations and sidelining independent unions.
