Labour activists slam recent minimum wage increase as ‘entrenching apartheid’s cheap black labour’
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The national minimum hourly wage increase from R25.42 to R27.58 entrenches apartheid’s cheap black labour, says The Casual Workers' Advice Office (CWAO).
The 8.5% increase, 2.5% higher than the latest inflation rate, came into effect this month. It was announced last month by employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi.
While Cosatu welcomed the hike, activists at the CWAO said that alone should “raise suspicions, given the federation’s consistently anti-worker politics”.
“The national minimum wage is not helping to lift affected workers out of poverty because few workers are receiving it. Worse, bosses are using the low minimum as an incentive to lower the wages of workers who have been earning well above it. The national minimum wage was never intended to challenge the system of cheap black labour. It was meant to entrench it,” it said.
The 8.5% increase, 2.5% higher than the latest inflation rate, came into effect this month. It was announced last month by employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi.
While Cosatu welcomed the hike, activists at the CWAO said that alone should “raise suspicions, given the federation’s consistently anti-worker politics”.
“The national minimum wage is not helping to lift affected workers out of poverty because few workers are receiving it. Worse, bosses are using the low minimum as an incentive to lower the wages of workers who have been earning well above it. The national minimum wage was never intended to challenge the system of cheap black labour. It was meant to entrench it,” it said.