Dear President, please do not adopt the National Minimum Wage Bill
A national minimum wage will increase unemployment and further remove constitutional rights from SA’s ‘forgotten people’, writes Eustace Davie
Att: Cyril Ramaphosa Like most South Africans, I am relieved that you have ascended to the country’s highest political post. However, you of all people know that you start your Presidency with an economy in deep trouble — and one in which the unemployed have been almost completely ignored. By first adopting an option for the "relief of the unemployed" through job seeker’s exemption certificates, you will ensure that when even more people become unemployed as the inevitable result of the impending implementation of the national minimum wage (NMW), there will be relief available to them. Proof that unemployed South Africans are truly the forgotten people is contained in the socio-economic impact assessment attached to the NMW Bill circulated for comment by the Department of Labour. Shockingly, the "affected stakeholders" in the exercise are listed as being "government departments, business, organised labour and civil society". No mention is made of the interests of the most "affected ...
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