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AgriSA's 'confusion' over minimum wage calculation
Freshfruitportal.com reports that South African farmers body AgriSA has called on the government to "correct an apparent error" in a recent weekly minimum wage announcement. AgriSA president Johannes Möller pointed out inconsistencies in Minister of Labour Mildrid Oliphant's announcement, outlining minimum wages for farm workers for the next year.
The confusion arises from "a significant deviation from the formula used in the previous three years as well as the fact that the weekly wage as announced is incorrect according to the Department of Labour," he said.
"According to the announcement, the lowest quartile of the CPI was used for calculating the minimum monthly wage, plus an additional 1,5 percentage points." In Agri SA's opinion, Möller says, this represents double compensation for food inflation. In the past one percentage point was added for food inflation. In addition, Agri SA noted that the increase is based on the October 2011 CPI information while in the past it was based on the November information. "The result of this is that the monthly minimum wage increased by 9,3% from R1 375.74 to R1 503.90 on 1 March 2012." Möller said also that the weekly wage should rise from R317.51 to R347.10, and not to R374.10, as published in the Government Gazette.
"The Department of Labour was alerted to the error and has undertaken to publish a correction," he said, adding that any employer may deduct a maximum of 10% for food and housing, respectively, if certain conditions are met.
Read the full article on www.freshfruitportal.com.
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