There is a general misconception about what is referred to as the ‘apartheid wage gap”. There is no doubt that in the early 1970s the wage structure discriminated against employees of colour. Such discrimination should have been scrapped by 1994 at the latest.
As previously pointed out there is certainly a flaw in the present framework as depicted in EEA9 – see EEA9 flaw in levels must be corrected.
The 6 occupational levels still give effect to the thinking of the early 1970s. There is an urgent need to update EEA9 by creating an extra occupational level between the present 3rd and 4th levels. Seven occupational levels will create the necessary balance. The new 4th level will act as the fulcrum or ‘gear-box’ with ‘thinkers’ in the top three levels and ‘doers’ in the bottom three levels. The straight-line wage curve must not have any gaps and there must be steps of equal proportion from one step to the next.
Natasha Marrian’s report Cosatu puts off minimum wage decisions was first published in Business Day on 20 Sept 2012 and may be accessed by clicking on the link or going to BDlive.
Courtesy of Business Day here are some random extracts and you may wish to read the earlier post as well – Minimum monthly wage of R4,500 will cause havoc.
WHILE many Congress of South African Trade Union (Cosatu) affiliates agree on the need for a national minimum wage, no concrete decisions were taken on the policy at Cosatu’s congress yesterday.
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi complained during the congress that the federation had convened a collective bargaining conference last year, but “unions did not take it seriously”. There was a need for a “mindset change”.
Mr Vavi expressed unhappiness that the document on the national minimum wage was distributed in May, yet discussion on it started only at the congress. Cosatu believed the national minimum wage was “critical” in bringing about the “developmental leap” SA needed to close gaping inequalities in society.
At present, policies governing wages were “fragmented” and were set through sectoral determinations, collective bargaining forums in various sectors and at company level.
“If we want to move away from the apartheid wage structure, we need a wage policy to achieve this,” said Neil Coleman, adviser to Mr Vavi, in an interview on the side-lines of the conference yesterday.
Mr Coleman said there was a “misconception” that Cosatu wanted a minimum wage of between R4,800 and R6,000. It had not put forward a proposal on the amount and had called on society to discuss this.
“Basically, (the level) below which a family of five cannot survive in terms of meeting basic requirements. So they cluster around R4,000 a month — it’s an objective criterion.”
Cosatu agreed to hold the collective bargaining conference early next year to stimulate the debate on the national minimum wage. The policy proposal received the support of heavyweight Cosatu affiliates the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA.