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BL Premium reports that Department of Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi has hiked farm and domestic workers’ wages by double-digit figures, despite protestations from the business sector that the increases will lead to a jobs bloodbath.
Nxesi announced this week that the national minimum wage (NMW), which was first introduced in January 2019 at R20 an hour, will rise to R21.69 on 1 March, from R20.76. The rate of change is above the average inflation rate in 2020, which was 3.3%. The new minimum wage will translate into increases of 16% and 22% for farm and domestic workers respectively. The NMW Commission — comprising independent experts and representatives from business, labour and communities — proposed in December 2020 that the minimum wage for farmworkers, now R18.68 an hour, be aligned with the then proposed NMW of R21.69 an hour in 2021. It recommended that domestic workers’ wages, now R15.57 an hour, be increased to 88% of R21.69, before being aligned with the NMW by 2022. Nxesi acceded to the proposals, announcing that farmworkers, trolley collectors, security guards and forklift operators will now be entitled to R21.69 an hour, domestic workers R19.09, while employees on the government’s expanded public works programme will be entitled to R11.93 an hour. Cosatu’s Sizwe Pamla welcomed the new minimum wage, saying it will mean extra money in the pockets of the “most oppressed and destitute workers”. But the National Employers Association of SA (Neasa), which represents over 10,000 employers, said increasing farmworkers' wages was unsustainable and would "inevitably lead to job losses, especially in respect of low-skilled workers in rural areas".
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page