Fin24 reports that labour federation Cosatu said on Tuesday that it was disappointed that government would not be able to implement the national minimum wage (NMW) by the original 1 May deadline, but that this presented an opportunity to perfect the applicable draft laws.  

The Minister of Labour admitted on Monday that the NMW would not be able to be brought into effect by Workers’ Day as planned.  Cosatu parliamentary coordinator Matthew Parks said the delays allowed for the union to make critical submissions on the bills to ensure that the NMW was foolproof.  “These amendments are aimed at ensuring there are no loopholes for business to avoid paying workers a national minimum wage, to ensure that farm and domestic workers are fast-tracked to a national minimum wage, to ensure that workers receive above inflation increases in the national minimum wage yearly, to protect sectoral determinations and to strengthen penalties for businesses who ignore the law,” Parks said.  Cosatu declared its confidence that the NMW would come into effect in June.

• Read this report by Khulekani Magubane in full at Fin24

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