The Editor, Sir:

I must say I was amused at the cartoon in The Gleaner about the 16 per cent increase in minimum wage. Surely, Mr. Pearnel Charles must know that 16 per cent of nothing is nothing. I just wish that these persons will stop using a percentage figure and stop taking us as 'fool fool' in Jamrock.

Nobody in Jamaica should be taking home less than $5,000 a week. No wonder poverty is so rife in Jamaica if a person is receiving only $3,700 a week under the current economic climate.

To add insult to injury, Mrs. Frankson of the JEF said the increase was too much and they got too little notice. Didn't she hear that inflation was more than 16 per cent last year? Come on, Mrs. Frankson, do you need a month's notice to come up with $500?

Conditions really bad in Jamaica man. I wish the Government would increase minimum wage twice per year; or for sure the poor cannot survive. I am calling on employers to put a little something extra in the employees' envelopes. Let every week be Christmas.

I am, etc.,

SIMONE DENNIS

simode4@yahoo.com

Spanish Town

Via Go-Jamaica