Farmers are mechanising and consolidating

2 Comments

1. 

   Graham Giles on September 22, 2014 at 1:12 pm

   According to a report on SA Labour News today the
   Chamber of Mines’ lack of position on national minimum wage decried by MPs
   The report is based on an article by Linda Ensor that was first published in Business Day

   Business Day reports that Chamber of Mines CEO Bheki Sibiya was given a tough time by MPs on Friday because he was unable to declare the position of the body, which represents mining employers, on a national minimum wage and progress made in implementation of the Mining Charter.

   At proceedings of a workshop on the matter organised by Parliament’s labour portfolio committee, trade unionists also expressed dissatisfaction because Business Unity SA (Busa) said a few weeks ago that it was still canvassing its 72 members and had not reached a position on the introduction of a national minimum wage, while on Friday Sibiya said the Chamber had not yet discussed the issue. Chamber of Mines senior executive for employment relations Elize Strydom said the Chamber’s view on a national minimum wage would be submitted to Busa, which would present it in November to the labour indaba spearheaded by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa. Strydom’s presentation to the committee on the national minimum wage largely dealt with the existing system of wage negotiations in the gold mining industry.

   But she did express “thoughts” on the minimum wage matter, saying that a “one size fits all” approach applicable to all industries “might not be appropriate”. Strydom also stressed that a national minimum wage was only one way of addressing inequality and should not be regarded as a panacea for the problem. It was indicated that progress in implementing the Mining Charter would be independently assessed after its deadline of end-December.

2. 

   Graham Giles on September 23, 2014 at 8:51 am

   Chamber of Mines disputes Stats SA’s wage statistics

   Business Report writes that the Chamber of Mines has strenuously disputed recent figures by Statistics SA that mining firms paid a minimum wage of less than R6,000 a month.

   Senior executive for employment relation at the Chamber, Elize Strydom, told the parliamentary labour portfolio committee on Friday that the figures were inaccurate and that she had evidence to back up the Chamber’s contention that mining companies paid a minimum wage of R12,700 a month. She was part of the Chamber’s delegation to Parliament to discuss the national minimum wage and responded to a suggestion by Cosatu’s Neil Coleman that, contrary to what the Chamber was claiming, Stats SA reported that mining companies were paying some workers below R6,000 a month.

   Strydom said Chamber statistics showed that the entry-level basic pay in the mining industry stood at more than R5,700, which did not include benefits such as pensions and housing allowances. On top of the R5,700, a plethora of bonuses for workers pushed up the total average wage to more than R12,700. For rock drill operators, the entry-level pay was R7,400 and when pensions and other benefits like bonuses were included they earned more than R15,200. She said workers above ‘category eight’ earned more than R17,000 a month. While there was no agreed minimum wage in the platinum sector, there was one in the gold and coal sectors, Strydom advised. Coleman said the Stats SA figures painted a different picture.

   Read this report by Siyabonnga Mkhwanazi on page 20 of Business Report of 22 September 2014