Cape Town – The milestone singing of agreements on labour stability and the much-anticipated national minimum wage has had to be postponed.
In a statement, the Presidency said the event which was meant to take place in Cape Town on Tuesday has now been “postponed until further notice” following Cosatu’s request that they be granted time to consult its central executive committee at the end of the month.
However Independent Media understands the social partners at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) have drafted a deal which endorses the R20 per hour national minimum wage rate recommended by a panel of experts.
The signing of the agreement would have also taken place at an opportune time for President Jacob Zuma who likely wanted to make an announcement of the finalisation of the Nedlac process during the state of the nation address.
Cosatu, along with other labour federations, the government, business and community constituencies have been working on the minimum wage policy since November 2014, following a resolution taken at a labour resolution indaba.
While the labour market stability discussions emanated from a call made by Zuma in June 2014 that social partners should seek measures to stabilise the labour relations environment and address the problem of violent, prolonged strikes.
It’s expected the proposed laws will include the agreement on strike ballots, after parties announced at the end of 2016 that it would be effected.
@ThetoThakane