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Fin24 reports that trade union federations have slammed a proposed increase to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) of 5%, branding it "totally unjustifiable".
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) and the National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu) said in a joint statement on Tuesday that they rejected the National Minimum Wage Commission's recommendation to the Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi, for a 5% increase. "Considering that the NMW has not been increased for three years, the proposed increased is totally unjustifiable and totally insulting to the noble ideals of the legislation that was expected to eject millions of workers out of the poverty trap. The NMW amount of R20 for workers in general, R18 for farm workers, R15 for domestic workers and R11 for EPWP was agreed to in March 2017. It is now 2020," the statement indicated. Organised labour wrote to the commission in 2019 motivating for an increase that would take into account inflation since 2017, which unions calculated would amount to an increase of at least 12.5%. The federations also want farm, domestic and public works employees to receive higher increases, in order to narrow the gap between their rates and the general NMW. In Tuesday’s statement, the federations called for intervention from Nxesi, saying the value of the wage was being "massively eroded" by inflation.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Marelise van der Merwe at Fin24
- Read too, Labour unions reject 5% minimum-wage increase, at Moneyweb
- And also, Unions say 5% wage offer will make workers poorer, at Business Report
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page