Public hearing on minimum wages
The Portfolio Committee on Labour will be conducting a public hearing on the national minimum wage in Ga-Kgapane Sasko Hall on March 14.
The other 6 provinces have already been covered since October 2014.
You are therefore requested to assist in mobilising workers in your union federation to attend these public hearings.
The main target in the remaining provinces will be farm-workers, although other sectors are also allowed to give their inputs.
In its 2014 election manifesto, the governing party identified the introduction of a national minimum wage as one of the key mechanisms to reduce income inequality that needs to be investigated.
In line with the manifesto, the President stated, in his state of the nation address, that the social partners need to deliberate on wage inequality.
He committed the government to the investigation into the national minimum wage identified in the election manifesto as an income inequality reduction mechanism.
He informed the nation that the Deputy President will convene the social partners’ dialogue within the ambit of NEDLAC to deal, inter alia, with this matter.
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 instructs the National Assembly to facilitate public involvement in the legislative and other processes of the Assembly and its committees.
In view of the above, the Portfolio Committee on Labour as the relevant parliamentary committee to deal with the matter of the national minimum wage has been conducting public hearings to elicit the views of the public on this contentious matter.
The public hearings accommodates the sectors that are mostly affected by the issue of wage inequality.
The exercise also takes cognizance of the fact that some vulnerable sectors are already covered by sectorial determinations. However, the focus of the public hearings cover all sectors in our work-force, including farming; fishing; construction; mining; domestic; etc.
