The Department of Labour had received 918 applications, affecting 74 603 employees, for exemption from the new farming sector minimum wage of R105 a day for farmworkers, it said yesterday.
The new sectoral determination came into effect on March 1. The department said the number of applications received could delay the finalisation of the applications beyond the end the month.
The department said subsequent to the announcement of the new minimum wage on February 4, it was informed by Agri SA that farmers in Limpopo and Mpumalanga intended to retrench about 2 000 workers despite the offer made by the department that those who could not afford to pay the prescribed wages could apply for exemption.
“Currently, the department is capturing the applications received and also requesting outstanding information from farmers. Also, as part of processing the applications, the department is further granting provisional approval to farmers to pay what has been agreed to during the consultation process with the workers, provided that the agreed amount is more than R75.31 a day, which would have been the new wage as from March 1, in terms of the reviewed sectoral determination,” it said.
While farmers had submitted applications for exemptions, arguing that they could not afford the new level of the minimum wage, the department said it had also, through the public employment service programme, received information that farmers in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape had submitted applications for approval to employ foreign labour.
The programme aims to assist companies and workers to adjust to changing labour market conditions.
The department said 2 838 applications had been received in January and 3 649 in February for employing foreign labour.
“When processing the applications for exemptions received, the department will also be taking the application for foreign labour employment into account in ensuring that South African labour is not replaced with foreign labour,” the department said.
“Furthermore, the department intends to engage with those farmers applying for foreign labour to discuss the possibility of absorbing workers from those farmers intending to retrench.” – Wiseman Khuzwayo