Minimum wage debacle

President Cyril Ramaphosa promised in his state of the nation address that the national minimum wage would be passed into legislation on May 1 (Nedlac slams bungling on bill, March 29).

The labour portfolio committee has now been placed in a position where the governing party is trying to force the DA to overlook all the negatives in the legislation to meet the president’s desire to fulfil his promise.

All this despite the fact that Treasury has said we will lose jobs, and international experience has shown that jobs are invariably lost when legislation of this nature is passed.

We already have one of the highest unemployment rates in the world.

Over and above all this, the destructive rush to have the legislation passed has meant that the Department of Labour has angered some of its own people. Firstly, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) came forward to give evidence at the labour hearings that it needed the wording of the bill changed in various respects.

The CCMA has said on numerous occasions it will not be able to cope with the increased caseload the amendments will cause.

Many of the submissions made to the portfolio committee highlighted the fact that agreements reached at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) — another part of the Department of Labour — have been completely ignored and/or vastly changed.

The trade union federations have expressed their anger and other role players that have spent years debating these issues at Nedlac are shocked.

Some blatant errors have crept in to the rushed wording of the bill and the Department of Labour has concerns that there will have to be a rewrite before it can be put up for debate.

Despite all this the ANC-appointed chairperson of the portfolio committee is still trying to force members to sit during their constituency time. This is rich when on the same day the labour portfolio committee met the ANC chief whip and argued that there needs to be more constituency time as he wants MPs to be out working in their constituencies for at least 50% of their time.

Michael Bagraim, MP

DA shadow labour minister