Wage hikes for farm workers
Richard Mantu
28 Febuary 2005
The Department of Labour has announced that the country's farm workers will be entitled to wage increases of between 9% and 10% as of 1 March.
This means that farm workers earning more than R24 000 a year should now be paid at least R949 a month, while those earning less than R24 000 a year should now be paid at least R785 a month.
Annual wage hikes for farm workers are regulated by the department's sectoral determination for the agricultural sector, which sets minimum wages and employment conditions for the industry.
"The agricultural sectoral determination can be regarded as a people's contract to create work and fight poverty, because it protects the most vulnerable of workers by setting minimum wages and acceptable working conditions", said Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladladlana.
Mdladlana said there is a level of flexibility within the determination to ensure that the conditions allow for job creation.
"Examples of
this flexibility include the split wage levels - recognising the different economic challenges facing farmers in different parts of the country, and the room given to farmers to apply for variations", Mdladlana said.
When the determination was promulgated in December 2001, minimum monthly wages were set at R800 for workers in areas of the country where average household income was more than R24 000 per annum (A areas), and at R650 for those where average household income was less than R24 000 per annum (B areas).
The annual increment means that workers on a minimum wage in A areas receive a 9% increase calculated on an hourly basis (or a R71.58 increase per month), while minimum wage B area workers get a 10% increase calculated on an hourly basis (or R63.65 increase for a full month's work).
Source: BuaNews
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