By Staff Writer
Workers in the tourism and the manufacturing industries should start getting some wage money in their pockets in the next three weeks.
There is no confirmed number yet of how many will be paid but it is expected to be several thousand.
The Ministry of Finance and the Samoa Chamber of Commerce are co-ordinators of the Wage Subsidy Scheme, designed to help businesses struggling to retain workers by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Workers made redundant, on Leave Without Pay or worked under reduced hours by the pandemic are eligible under the scheme.
Only those legally employed when the State of Emergency, SOE, was declared on 22 March 2020, are qualified.
No payment amounts were announced per employee except that it will be on a flat rate approved by the Ministry of Finance.
Forms are now circulated out to employers for their workers to fill in and return through the Samoa Chamber of Commerce.
The Ministry of Finance will give final approval of the businesses and their respective workers for the disbursement of funds by the 26 October 2020.
Tourism is the worst affected industry by the COVID-19 with the closure of border travel leaving hotels and other related businesses to a virtual standstill.
The Samoa Hotel Association Office Manager Ms, Rosalina Satuala, estimated workers laid off in the thousands.
“We estimated more than 2000 workers were laid off in our tourism industry last April with more than one thousand more added in July,” Ms. Satuala recalled.
“ The number is growing steadily all the time not just in hotels but in beach fales, restaurants, tour operators, nightclubs and more.”
A Chamber of Commerce spokesperson confirmed a membership of more than 400 who were circulated forms for their workers to fill in under the scheme.
The wage scheme is rolled out to include Hotels/Resorts, Restaurants and Bars, Car rentals companies, Manufacturing Exporters, Travel Agents, Businesses operating at Faleolo International Airport and Talofa airways.
The scheme was first announced last June and it is now going through the process for final disbursement.
The wage scheme is the third so far in a series of Government organised stimulus packages to keep the local economy going.
Payments made through contributors of the Samoa National Provident Fund and the $50 handouts to all citizens of Samoa currently under way were the first.
