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The Portfolio Committee on Labour has noted the misleading statements made in the public sphere that Parliament has “sent back” the National Minimum Wage Bill to the department.

The Acting Chairperson of the committee, Ms Sharome van Schalkwyk, said statements that seek to insinuate that the Bill, and the related pieces of legislation that are being amended, had been rejected and thus sent back to the department are disingenuous and misleading.

“The committee, after its deliberations, referred the Bill back to the Department of Labour, so that it could redraft it and include inputs that had been received from stakeholders and individual members of the committee,” Ms Van Schalkwyk said.

“This is how the legislation-making process should unfold, and once redraft has occurred, the amended version (or the A-List) is then tabled at the committee for further deliberations. Labour leaders need not de-campaign these pieces of legislation as they are only intended to improve the lives of the lowest-paid and vulnerable workers,” she said.

The committee had become aware of statements made by prominent leaders who seek to mislead workers on the process the Bill is following. The committee resolved in the first term that given the significance of this piece of legislation, more time should be allocated, and that all inputs should be considered.

Ms Van Schalkwyk said the Bill was now in the hands of Parliament and that all processes flowing from this are parliamentary. “Therefore when this Bill comes back from the department it would be commonly referred to as a B-Bill, and the committee will further deliberate, and agree to it for tabling at the National Assembly, and then the National Council of Provinces processes, and eventually to the President.”

She said the committee welcomed it if unions affiliated to Saftu want to protest against the Bill but they should not be disingenuous about it, especially that the committee even extended its process to accept late submission from the federation and AgriSA, among other stakeholders.

Issued by Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Acting Chairperson, Sharome Van Schalkwyk