Wages are about humanity, morality

The Covid-19 crisis has forced many already struggling companies to close and those which have survived will have to reassess their business plans. Now, the National Employers Association of South Africa (Neasa) has ignited the old, but highly charged and emotional debate about a minimum wage.

Neasa argues that as South Africa struggles to haul itself out of the pit of Covid-19 damage, the current minimum wage structure is something which it can ill afford as a developing country.

The argument goes that, surely, it is better for an unemployed person to have a job which pays less than the legislated minimum than to have no job at all and to rely on government handouts – including the “emergency” R350-a-month support grant announced in the initial plans to ease the impact of the coronavirus.

Neasa says that vulnerable sectors, like agriculture, have already had to reduce their workforce because the minimum wage would make individual businesses no longer financially viable. The organisation says that, to avoid similar job losses right across the economy in the Covid-19 recovery phase, the minimum wage rules should be temporarily suspended.

That argument seems to have a humanitarian reason at its heart – that human beings be given the little dignity of being able to work for a living, despite the low wage. That, though, ignores the reality that living on a minimum wage of R20 a hour is not living at all. And it is certainly not dignified … although there is even less dignity in knowing your labour is being exploited for even less money.

We also wonder how many business owners who plead poverty and retrench or underpay their staff drive fancy cars, drink expensive booze and live in big houses. Minimum wage has never been about economics. It is about humanity and morality.

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