The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it voted against the National Minimum Wage Bill because it has not been subjected to proper public consultations and will push hundreds of thousands of people into unemployment.
It says many provisions contained in the Labour Relations Amendment Bill are a departure from what was agreed at National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) an objection which many unions made during committee deliberations.
The DA says the voice of organised labour and businesses have been silenced through what it terms the sidelining of Nedlac.
It says the three Bills; including the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill do little to improve the labour market in their current form.
DA shadow Minister of Labour Michael Bagraim says, “The DA has voted against the national Minimum Wage Bill. In reality what we believe in is a Minimum Wage but not on a universal basis, it should be implemented per sector.”
“In other words if you look at a particular sector and see what it can stomach and what it can use and that sector itself then becomes the reality and you don’t lose jobs because they check at what place it can be sustainable,” explains Bagraim.
Minimum Wage App
SABC Digital News and OpenUp (formerly Code for South Africa) has partnered to develop a Minimum Wage App that will give answers to the question: “Can South Africans survive on R3 500?”
Where does the information come from?
OpenUp has used the following data sources:
- Stats SA “Poverty Trends in South Africa” report
- Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action (PACSA) “Food Price Barometer“
- Stats SA “Income and Expenditure of Households Survey”
How is it calculated?
The money available for food is calculated by subtracting the money used for other expenses from household income.
