Minimum wages under spotlight

THE Department of Labour is hosting a series of national public hearings to investigate the farm and forestry sectors to review the sectors’ minimum wages and conditions of employment prescribed in the Sectoral Determination (SD) 13 for the farm and forestry sector.

Sectoral Determination regulates wages, working hours and other basic conditions of employment for sectors deemed vulnerable.

The Sectoral Determination broadly deals with the protection of workers involved in farm and forestry activities.

Labour Minister, Mildred Oliphant, has already signed notices that have thus been published in the government gazette in terms of section 52 (3) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act on the 24th February 2015, in order to commence with this investigation and to invite all stakeholders in the sectors to submit their written representation regarding this investigation.

The Department of Labour will hold public hearings across the country in order to give both employers and employees in the sectors more time to submit their inputs.

Issues being investigated include the Setting the new minimum wages for the Farm and Forestry sectors; and other working conditions related to the operations within the sectors.

Minimum wages

The minimum wage for farm/forestry workers announced by the department in January for the period 1 March 2015 to 29 February 2016 is a minimum wage of R2 606.78 per month (2014/2015 was R2 420.41); a weekly minimum wage of R601.61(2014/2015: R558,60); a daily rate of R120.32 (2014/2015: R111,72) and an hourly rate of R13.37 (2014/2015: R12,41)

Sectoral Determination in the forestry sector includes commercial timber growers, emergent timber growers, contractors where the majority of time is spent in forestry activities, all transportation within the forestry sector, a domestic worker employed in a home on a plantation and a security guard employed to guard a plantation who is not employed by a private security company.

Mixed farming

The reason the two sectors’ investigations are held simultaneously is because in April 2012, the Minister published a notice in Government Gazette announcing the increase of the forestry minimum wages to be in line with the farm worker sector minimum wages.

The alignment in the minimum wages was informed by the fact that most employers who conduct forestry activities are also doing farming activities which results in mixed farming.

The Employment Conditions Commission (ECC), the body that advises the Minister on Employment Standards and matters around Sectoral Determination, was of the view that a separation in the minimum wages in these sectors could result in potential abuse.

The ECC in its recommendations also considered the intensity of the forestry sector activities as compared to the work in the agricultural sector.

In April 2014, the minimum wages were completely aligned to the farm workers’ wages, however the ECC proposed a further increase of 11 months, in order for the duration of the SD to run concurrently with the duration of the farm sector. Public hearings will begin at 9am for employers and 1pm for employees.

The farm and forestry sectors’ roadshows will be held in Richards Bay on 12 August for farmers and on 13 August for the forestry sector.

The venue is yet to be announced.