Johannesburg - South Africa's labour department on Wednesday, urged industries that were paying below the proposed National Minimum Wage (NMW) to “up their game”.
Director of Employment Standards at the department, Stephen Rathai, said all sectoral determinations paying below the R20 per hour as proposed by NMW would cease in terms of wages when the latter comes into law.
“The NMW has proposed that [the] farming and forestry [sector] should pay R18 per hour, [the] domestic sector R15 per hour, and [the] expanded public works programme R11 an hour,” Rathai said in a statement.
“The NMW is serious about poverty alleviation and inequality reduction.”
Kekulu Pali from the Employment Standards said that exemptions would be granted if the delegated authority was satisfied that the employer could not afford to pay the minimum wage every representative trade union had been meaningfully consulted and should provide the bargaining council, union or affected workers with a copy of the application.
The labour department plans to host 17 briefing sessions nationally and the next employer briefing session will be held in the Northern Cape.