AGRICULTURE NEWS - The new R21,69/hour national minimum wage (NMW) for farmworkers, which will come into effect on 1 March, has been met with concern by major organised agriculture bodies in South Africa.
TAU SA’s president, Henry Geldenhuys, said in a statement that the Department of Labour and Employment (DLE) had “pushed through” the 16% increase despite various stakeholders in the agriculture sector having submitted motivations for why the new rate for farmworkers should not be equal to the minimum wage for all other business sectors.
“None of the role players wants workers to earn an unreasonable remuneration or to lose their jobs. We only want government to realise that farmers cannot afford the wage increases. We received feedback from a wide range of farmers and other role players in the [agriculture] value chain [to] indicate that they will be forced to make amendments to accommodate these changes.
Read the full article here on the Caxton publication, Farmer's Weekly
