Press Statement dated 4 January 2019
- That the principle of a National Minimum Wage is welcomed as a clarion call we have made over the years as a labour movement but we reject the level at which it is pitched based on the following reasons
- The R20 per hour is so low a level that we cannot celebrate such a low bar, even if there are reportedly 6 million to be lifted from this below and many at a mere R2 or so.
- Any business wanting to be operational must factor into account that we need people to have some basic minimum to survive and R20 will not ead to such rumoured or even fear-mongered job losses. Remember, when the sectoral determination in agriculture was adjusted by just under 32% following De Doorns and nation-wide farm workers strike, the “sky didn’t fall and the sector didn’t shut down” despite similarly peddled “fears”. The agricultural sector is now at R16.25c an hour and excluded from this R20
- FAWU members to be covered by this mere R20 will those outside of Agriculture, at least in the next two years, who may be working retail, hospitality, restaurants and fast-food sectors and may estimate that this could be couple tens of thousands. However, these sectors may be respectively employing 250 000 (retail), 200 000 (hospitality) and 400 000 (restaurants and fast-food).
We as FAWU, and as part of SAFTU, will continue to campaign for a better pitch of a National Minimum Wage and we will draw inspiration from the clarion call made by mine workers of Marikana that R12 500 may suffice even if the actual figure will not R12 500.
Issued by Katishi Masemola, General Secretary, and Dominque Martin, Media Officer, Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu)