South Africa\u2019s biggest labour unions rejected a government proposal to increase the national minimum wage by 5%.<\/p>\n
Organized labour at the National Economic Development and Labour Council – a bargaining forum that has government, business, labor and community representation — wants wages raised by at least 12.5%, Sizwe Pamla, national spokesman for the Congress of South African Trade Unions, said in an emailed statement Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The unions want pay to take account of inflation in the three years since an initial agreement was reached on wages, Pamla said.<\/p>\n
That accord set minimum amounts of R20 ($1.37) per hour for general workers, R18 for farm workers and R15 domestic workers.<\/p>\n
The initial agreement was reached in March 2017 and average annual inflation was 5.3% in that year.<\/p>\n
The rate dropped to below 5% in 2018 and reach a nine-year low of 4.1% in 2019.<\/p>\n
The central bank, which has flagged wage growth as a risk to price stability, aims to anchor inflation expectations close to 4.5% and its forecast shows the rate remaining near that until at least the end of 2022.<\/p>\n
The groups comprising Cosatu, the country\u2019s biggest labor group, the Federation of Unions of South Africa and the National Council of Trade Unions also requested that farm, domestic and public-sector workers receive higher increases to reduce any possible gaps between their pay and the national minimum wage, Pamla said.<\/p>\n
South Africa officially introduced a national minimum wage in January 2019 to protect workers from “unreasonably low wages” and promote collective bargaining.<\/p>\n