ANA reports that Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday that the national minimum wage (NMW) of R20 per hour, to be implemented by at least 1 May 1 next year, was not a living wage, but a step towards income equality in SA.
In a briefing on a set of agreements agreed to by the social partners at Nedlac (with the exception of Cosatu which first needs to report to its internal structures), Ramaphosa said: "This is a firm foundation of moving our country towards a living wage. It is a start. These agreements are the outcomes of nearly two years of deliberations." The R20 an hour minimum wage will translate into a monthly salary of R3,500 for those working a 40-hour week, and R3,900 for those working a 45-hour week. Ramaphosa pointed out that the NMW lift the income of at least 6.6 million workers who currently earned less than R3,500 a month. Saying this was a balancing act, he noted that that an overly NMW would have a negative impact in terms of job losses.
- Read this report by Chantall Presence in full at IOL News
- See too, Cosatu on board with R20 an hour wage agreement, says Ramaphosa, at The Citizen
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page