The Chinese employers who attended the stakeholder engagement session organised by the Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) unit in the North West were told that stringent measures will be taken for non-compliance with the National Minimum Wage Act (NMW).

Speaking at the session the provincial Employment Specialist, Morgan Mokwana said in terms of the NMW act, section 4 states that every worker is entitled to a payment of a wage that is an amount no less than the NMW and every employer must pay wages to their workers that are no less than the NMW.

Mokwana said failure to comply with this Act, the Department through the inspectors will enforce it. “If we conduct an inspection and find that an employer is not complying with the NMWA, an inspector will  try to secure  an undertaking from an employer to comply. The undertaking is for 14 days where after if there is still non-compliance the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation & Arbitration will be approached to make an undertaking an arbitration award to force the employer to comply” said Mokwana.

The session also looked at the amendments of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act to align with the National Minimum Wage. These amendments serve to extend the provisions for monitoring and enforcement by the labour inspectorate to apply to the NMW and unemployment insurance.
 
The session was targeting the Chinese employers as they were identified as crucial in the implementation of NMWA. They were identified because they are predominantly participating in the Wholesale and Retail sector in the province and are employing a significant number of employees and this sector is one of the sectors that are mostly affected by NMWA.
 
In response to the session, the Chinese employers’ representative, Attie Zhuang said he is grateful for the session as it was informative and would assist them with compliance as they are not well conversant with the South African Labour laws and are looking forward to a good relationship with the Department.
 
The National minimum Wage became into effect on the 1st of January 2019 and sets a floor below which no worker must be paid with the exemption on the farm workers, domestic workers and the Extended Public Works Programme workers. It also seeks to advance economic development and social justices.

Issued by Department of Labour: North West