National Minimum Wage
- The National Minimum Wage Bill and the Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Bills have been drafted and are being amended in line with principle agreements reached at the last Committee of Principles meeting. While most of our concerns have been addressed, there are a few outstanding areas of concern that we are actively addressing through a variety of channels.
- Yesterday, the principle agreements relating to the Bills were tabled with the DG’s of the Economic Cluster and approved.
- The Bills will now go to the Cabinet Committee (Economic Cluster Ministers) on 25 October 2017, and they are scheduled to go to Cabinet on 2 November 2017.
- Once approved by Cabinet, the full package of Bills, together with the Labour Relations Stability Amendments to the Labour Relations Act and the Code of Good Practice (which have already been approved by Cabinet) will be tabled in Parliament. The aim is for the Bills to be approved in Parliament this year.
- Regulations relating to the Bills will be tabled for consideration in Nedlac. We will watch these carefully, particularly in relation to exemption criteria, turnaround times and the extent to which start-ups and SME’s can access the exemption process with minimal regulatory burden.
Economic Transformation
Since the launch the Business Approach to Black Economic Transformation for inclusive growth (‘Business Approach’), we have engaged in a number of processes for business to meaningfully drive transformation. Some of the highlights are mentioned below.
- Youth Employment:
- Following a BUSA workshop to engage on the YES proposal in August, BUSA has actively engaged with the YES and the dti to work on the proposed B-BBEE incentive package. This should be finalised shortly. BUSA also facilitated an engagement of the YES initiative at Nedlac yesterday where all constituencies supported and endorsed the proposal. A soft launch is planned for this year.
- BUSA has secured funding from the Employment Promotion Project to conduct aYouth Employment Audit. The Audit will be conducted by the NBI and Singizi on our behalf, and will provide an evidence based audit of youth and skills initiatives by business.
- Ownership: The National Treasury has conducted an analysis of JSE Ownership(circulated last week to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance). National Treasury will conduct an annual ownership monitor in this regard. It is important to note the alignment of this research with the Business Approach. The relevant documents have been sent to Transformation Think Tank members and can be obtained on request from[email protected]
- Skills Development and Education: BUSA has actively engaged in Nedlac on the National Skills Development Plan 4 and in the recent TVET Imbizo to advocate for demand-led skills interventions.
- Enterprise Development: Access to market, capital and skill and the regulatory environment continue to be the key barriers to enterprise development. BUSA has advocated for SME friendly exemption procedures in the National Minimum Wage and we are actively lobbying to ensure that the Socio-Economic Impact Assessments (SEIA) consider the regulatory impact on SMEs.
- Collaboration: Using the Business Approach as a basis, we are working bilaterally with organised labour leaders to develop a joint position on Transformation for Inclusive Growth and are working with the Nedlac constituencies on High Level Sovereign Downgrade Task Team . BUSA is lending its weight to transformation efforts of its members and attempting to publically highlight this in the public sphere. Members are encouraged to advise us if there are new developments of which we should be aware.
Author: Derrick Markotter
RCCI Webmaster Derrick runs a boutique web marketing agency, IdealMedia Marketing.