Draft bill is an insult to workers – Numsa

THE National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has slammed the Draft National Minimum Wage Bill as an attack on the working class and an attempt to create a “pool of cheap labour”.

This comes after the Department of Labour released the much-anticipated bill, which proposed a national minimum wage of R20 per hour. The bill, if passed into law, is to increase the earnings of more than 6 million working South Africans.

Numsa acting national spokesperson Phakamile HlubiMajola said: “The ANC-led government is attacking the working class with changes to the Labour Relations Act and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, and it intends to implement the National Minimum Wage Bill.

“Together these changes are an attack on the working class and their families because they reduce the hard-won rights that workers fought and died for under apartheid. One of the greatest threats to the working class is the proposal to limit the right to strike.”

The proposed bill has been criticised by many for excluding independent contractors and Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) workers.

The bill is expected to be signed into law by May 1.

The union said it would work with various stakeholders to fight the implementation of the bill. “We are working with progressive pro-working-class movements to defend the rights of all workers.

“Together with the Casual Workers Advice Office, Lawyers for Human Rights, United Front, General Industries Workers Union of SA and other working-class movements, we will fight to protect the right to strike,” said Hlubi-Majola.

“The state wants to create a pool of cheap labour, which is unable to use the right to strike as a tool to negotiate better working conditions. They want to take away the power of workers to decide when to strike and when to end a strike.”

The agreed national minimum wage will force employers to pay their workers R20 per hour, excluding sectors such as farm and domestic workers.

The minimum wage for farmworkers will be R18 per hour and domestic workers R15 an hour. The minimum wage for workers on the EPWP will be R11 per hour.

The EFF accused the ANC of stealing its idea to introduce a national minimum wage, and watered it down as its own.

EFF national spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said their caucus would meet to discuss whether to accept or reject the bill in its entirety or part of it.

“We had proposed that no one must be paid less than R4 500 (per month), with specifications according to sectors eg mining R12 500. We are likely to reject parts of it, as opposed to rejecting the entire idea,” Ndlozi pointed out.

The DA has thrown its weight behind the proposed minimum wage. MP Michael Bagraim said the party welcomed the bill, with reservations in terms of exemptions afforded to certain industries.

An attempt to create a pool of cheap labour