Johannesburg - “Something is better than nothing,” said workers at various supermarkets across Johannesburg in reaction to the announcement of a proposed national minimum wage (NMW) for South Africa.
They had just heard of the proposal of about R3 500 a month by a Nedlac-appointed panel of experts.
Most of those who spoke to The Star earn between R2 800 and R4 500 a month.
Read also: Anger, disbelief over proposed minimum wage
A Shoprite employee said R3 500 was a start and better than earning R1 000 a month.
When he started working 20 years ago, talk of a national minimum wage was not a prominent feature in the public discourse and the announcement of the R3 500 benchmark at the weekend was, in his eyes, a feat.
“I earn R4 500 after deductions. People think you have been working here for so many years and that means you should have money, but it’s not true. I’m open with my children about the little I earn and that it’s all I have to keep them going. I’m disappointed that the government didn’t introduce this years ago, as maybe I could have been earning more money,” said the man, who didn’t want to be named.
Another Shoprite employee said he would be happy to get R3 500 a month, lamenting that his employer paid chief executive Whitey Basson millions in bonuses while the employees suffered.
Basson was awarded a R50m performance bonus last month, a decision criticised by many South Africans for being in poor taste in light of the wages paid to the company’s staff.
South Africa has the world’s largest pay gap between chief executive and ordinary workers, with Bloomberg’s Global CEO Pay Index showing the average chief executive earns 541 times the wage of the average worker. South Africa chief executives are the seventh highest paid in the world, with pay packages far outstripping some of the world’s most prosperous economies.
Workers at a Roodepoort supermarket were concerned with when the NMW would come into effect.
Supermarket cashiers said they knew it required far more than the recommended R20 an hour to regain the kind of dignity that poverty has long stripped them of.
“I see myself being able to buy more food for my children, and nothing would make me happier,” said one of them. “It’s embarrassing having to tell your children there’s no money all the time. More money would be nice. What they are suggesting sounds better than where we are now,” she said.
There were other added extras for vulnerable workers in the policy proposal. Tips paid to restaurant industry employees and others in the hospitality sector will not count towards the national minimum wage, offering workers protection from some exploitative employers.
The report also proposed that the following workers not be covered by the NMW Act:
* Workers employed in terms of learnership agreements.
* People employed through the Expanded Public Works Programme.
* Unpaid volunteers and volunteers receiving a stipend.
* People employed by state security agencies or members of the SANDF.
* Family businesses, where members of the family reside in the family home of the employer and participate in the business.
Various reactions to the proposed NMW by political parties, the public, business and labour have demonstrated that wages remain a hot potato, as proved by the many deadlocks encountered at Nedlac.
The DA said it preferred sectoral determinations instead of the universal model, warning that the proposed system would deepen unemployment, something the panel said it had worked hard to avoid.
“A one-size-fits-all approach, no matter how well intentioned, will result in further job losses, adding to the 8.9 million unemployed South Africans,” said the DA’s Ian Ollis.
The EFF also rejected the proposal, saying the level would entrench inequality and low poverty wages, proposing instead that the NMW be set at R5 000.
The ANC welcomed the recommendations, saying they were credible and supported by clear evidence.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Unions of South Africa said it wanted to test the evidence and called for a meeting with the panel. South Africa’s second largest labour federation said it was concerned about research claiming there was potential for 715 000 jobs to be lost as a result of the implementation of the NMW.
THE STAR