Information sessions highlight new labour legislation

THE Department of Labour’s (DoL) national consultation sessions aimed at briefing trade unions on national minimum wage (NMW) and other labour legislation was rolled out in Richards Bay on Thursday.

A key objective is to ensure that the NMW as a new labour policy intervention instrument is communicated as widely as possible.

The NMW applies to all workers and no employer is allowed to pay workers below that level, the Director: Employment Standard, Stephen Rathai, told unions and other stakeholders at the information session held at the uMhlathuze Municipality.

‘The national minimum wage will be the floor level, below which no worker should be paid and something that cannot be varied by contract, collective agreement or law.

‘This becomes active in May, as well as amendments to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) and the Labour Relations Act (LRA).

‘The national minimum wage constitutes a term of a worker’s contract. An employer cannot unilaterally alter the hours of work or other conditions of employment.

‘Of the R20 per hour minimum wage level, farm or forestry workers will be paid R18, domestic workers R15, whereas extended public works programme workers will get R11 from 1 May 2018.’

Rathai said that amendments to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act deal with the monitoring and enforcement of the NMW, including dispute resolutions thereof.

The amendments include the scope of the department’s inspectorate in terms of monitoring the implementation of the NMW, including securing undertakings, enforcement of NMW in sectors with collective agreements, including bargaining councils, and the referral of non-compliance to the CCMA.

Ian Macun, Chief Director: Employment Standards, told the gathering that amendments to the Labour Relations Act deal with the state of labour relations environment with respect to violent and protracted strikes.

Macun said that one of the amendments to the LRA is that a picket will be prohibited unless picketing rules are in place.