Department of Labour's conduct in Parliament undermines meaningful national minimum wage package

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) criticizes the South African Department of Labour for undermining the National Minimum Wage (NMW) package through its conduct in Parliament. The IEJ alleges that the department ignored decisions from the Parliamentary Labour Portfolio Committee and the February 2017 Nedlac agreement, specifically by weakening the independence of the NMW commission, failing to guarantee annual wage increases, and introducing employer-led exemption applications.

• The Department of Labour is accused of undermining the Parliamentary Labour Portfolio Committee's ability to conduct balanced engagements by selectively presenting issues and omitting or inaccurately conveying points from public and social partner submissions.
• The independence and operational autonomy of the NMW commission have been compromised. The commission's secretariat is housed within the department, it lacks a budget appropriated by Parliament (relying instead on departmental funds), and it has limited operational authority over its secretariat.
• The NMW Bill fails to adhere to the February 2017 Nedlac agreement in several areas: it does not guarantee annual increases to prevent the erosion of the minimum wage's value, it lacks a strong medium-term target, and it does not reflect the agreement that lower wage levels for farmworkers (R18) and domestic workers (R15) should expire after two years.
• The Bill introduces a provision allowing employer organisations to apply for exemptions on behalf of their members, a move the IEJ claims was not in the Nedlac agreement and risks creating a "sophisticated conveyer belt of applications."
• The Department of Labour has limited the NMW commission's power regarding sectoral determinations. The Bill requires the minister to trigger investigations for new determinations rather than granting the commission discretion, and it suggests sectoral determination wages should increase proportionally to the NMW rather than through manual review.

APA

Isaacs, G. (2018). Department of Labour's conduct in Parliament undermines meaningful national minimum wage package. Institute for Economic Justice. https://iej.org.za/press-room/in-the-media/department-of-labours-conduct-in-parliament-undermines-meaningful-national-minimum-wage-package/

Chicago

Isaacs, Gilad. Department of Labour's conduct in Parliament undermines meaningful national minimum wage package. Institute for Economic Justice, 2018. https://iej.org.za/press-room/in-the-media/department-of-labours-conduct-in-parliament-undermines-meaningful-national-minimum-wage-package/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Isaacs |first1=Gilad |title=Department of Labour's conduct in Parliament undermines meaningful national minimum wage package |publisher=Institute for Economic Justice |date=15 May 2018 |url=https://iej.org.za/press-room/in-the-media/department-of-labours-conduct-in-parliament-undermines-meaningful-national-minimum-wage-package/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{isaacs2018department, author = {Isaacs, Gilad}, title = {{Department of Labour's conduct in Parliament undermines meaningful national minimum wage package}}, publisher = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2018}, month = may, url = {https://iej.org.za/press-room/in-the-media/department-of-labours-conduct-in-parliament-undermines-meaningful-national-minimum-wage-package/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }