Minimum wage change set for May

THE cabinet has approved the implementation of the national minimum wage and government policy, and wants it to take effect in May next year at R 3200 a month or R20 an hour.

Cabinet’s approval followed consultations and agreements with business‚ labour and community formations at Nedlac.

Communications Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said yesterday parliament would now have to process the National Minimum Wage Bill and the Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Bill to ensure synergy between the two proposed pieces of law for the minimum wage to be implementable by May.

“Cabinet [also] approved the submission to parliament of the Labour Relations Amendment Bill of 2017,” Kubayi said.

“The bill is a culmination of consultation with all the relevant stakeholders.

“It addresses‚ among others‚ picketing procedures and the protracted strikes and arbitration advisory structures.”

Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant was due to provide more details on the national minimum wage to the media after the cabinet briefing, but this had to be abandoned after she took ill.

Her office said later that some low-income earners, such as farm workers and domestic workers, would be exempted from the national minimum wage.

The minimum wage for farm workers would be R18 an hour‚ for domestic workers R15 an hour, and R11 an hour for those employed with the government’s Expanded Public Works Programme.