Cape Town - Negotiations on the level of a proposed national minimum wage are within a “consensus building range”, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday.
A seven-person technical panel established to investigate an appropriate level for a national minimum wage was expected to report back to him and a committee of principals from the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) towards the end of next month, Ramaphosa said.
Discussions were canvassing a number of issues, such as whether certain categories of workers should be excluded from the national minimum wage, the possibility of exemptions for businesses for which the level might be unaffordable and the relationship between the national minimum wage and existing sectoral determinations.
Ramaphosa gave a hint as to the level being discussed when he said the majority of businesses would already be paying above the minimum threshold, reminding members of the National Council of Provinces, where he was answering questions, that wages for farmworkers and domestic workers had already been increased through sectoral determinations.
The latest sectoral determination for farmworkers, gazetted in February, set the monthly minimum at R2 778.83, or R128.26 a day, rising by consumer price inflation plus 1 percent over the next two years.
Ramaphosa said the Nedlac process, initiated following President Jacob Zuma’s June 2014 State of the Nation Address, was trying to find a level that could be absorbed by the economy without destroying jobs or stifling growth, while still making a meaningful impact on wage inequality.
Responding to a comment that the increase in farmworkers’ wages in 2013 had resulted in substantial job losses, Ramaphosa said while it was true this had been the short-term impact, most of the jobs lost had since been recovered.
The job losses had been the result of a “shock” to employers who had not anticipated the increase and had therefore not budgeted for it. The national minimum wage would have a set time frame, which would allow businesses to “price it in” and plan accordingly, Ramaphosa said. He said all the social partners at Nedlac had agreed on the need for a national minimum wage and wanted it “as soon as possible”.
However, it would not be announced until there was agreement among all the partners, Ramaphosa said.
Turning to the controversial proposed nuclear build programme, Ramaphosa said any investment in new electricity generation capacity would have to be evidence based, sustainable and affordable and a decision to proceed with nuclear would be taken only after the request for proposal process had been completed and a final funding model developed.
The request for proposals would be published by the end of this month, Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said in the National Assembly.
Ramaphosa said the Treasury was already working on the financial modelling and would determine whether nuclear was affordable.
The process would be “very transparent”.
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