Cosatu has criticised a plan that aims to see the country's economy grow by more than 5% per annum through the creation of a manufacturing-intensive sector that would absorb millions of unskilled labourers by paying them low wages.
"The Centre for Development and Enterprise represents a block of business organisations that are saying workers must accept low salaries in order for business to make a profit. They are propagating for workers not to strike and they are opposed to the national minimum wage, which the lowest proposal at Nedlac put at R2000.
"This is a slave wage that will see workers not being able to feed themselves and their families or do anything with the money," Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini said.
Dlamini said Cosatu would pursue a re-industrialisation programme that would provide decent jobs.
His comment came after six reports by Ann Bernstein, executive director of the Centre for Development and Enterprise's growth agenda . Bernstein said during a media briefing this week that the local manufacturing sector could experiment by paying a worker R80 a day, which would result in R1600 a month. The amount is similar to what the expanded public works programme pays.
Bernstein said the industrial economy should offer workers growth opportunities and improve their lives. She said wages in China had increased considerably over the past five years, which had resulted in jobs moving out of the Asian country.
Beinstein said SA has to move quickly to come up with a plan that would result in factories that would manufacture goods like jeans and T-shirts or else the opportunities would be snapped up by countries like the Philippines and Cambodia
"If we could get a fraction of those [manufacturing opportunities], this would make a significant difference to workers in South Africa," Bernstein said.
"Continuing with our current policy framework will not result in the millions of jobs and much higher growth that we need."
The research documents argue that "the fact that the SA economy has become increasingly skills-intensive has had disastrous consequences for millions of poor households.
"This approach has effectively ruled out the establishment of low-wage, labour-intensive industries that could create significant numbers of jobs. Prohibiting employers from offering low wages has taken a whole range of potentially viable economic activities off the table," the documents read.
It said between 2008 and 2014 the economy produced almost 900000 net jobs, however, more than 750000 of those were created in the community and social services category.
"It seems clear that, under the present circumstances, the SA economy is effectively incapable of creating large numbers of jobs in the productive economy."
The documents also lashed out at the labour regime, describing procedures for disciplining or dismissing employees as time-consuming and expensive.
"This raises employer's costs but does not raise workers' monthly wages, although it does protect workers from losing their jobs.
"Similarly, strikes, which are steadily becoming longer, more frequent and increasingly violent, impose a range of costs on employers that cannot be recovered and are then passed on to workers," Bernstein said.
sibanyonim@sowetan.co.za
Cosatu slams 'slave wages' in plan for jobs
Cosatu has criticised a plan that aims to see the country's economy grow by more than 5% per annum through the creation of a manufacturing-intensive sector that would absorb millions of unskilled labourers by paying them low wages.
"The Centre for Development and Enterprise represents a block of business organisations that are saying workers must accept low salaries in order for business to make a profit. They are propagating for workers not to strike and they are opposed to the national minimum wage, which the lowest proposal at Nedlac put at R2000.
"This is a slave wage that will see workers not being able to feed themselves and their families or do anything with the money," Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini said.
Dlamini said Cosatu would pursue a re-industrialisation programme that would provide decent jobs.
His comment came after six reports by Ann Bernstein, executive director of the Centre for Development and Enterprise's growth agenda . Bernstein said during a media briefing this week that the local manufacturing sector could experiment by paying a worker R80 a day, which would result in R1600 a month. The amount is similar to what the expanded public works programme pays.
Bernstein said the industrial economy should offer workers growth opportunities and improve their lives. She said wages in China had increased considerably over the past five years, which had resulted in jobs moving out of the Asian country.
Beinstein said SA has to move quickly to come up with a plan that would result in factories that would manufacture goods like jeans and T-shirts or else the opportunities would be snapped up by countries like the Philippines and Cambodia
"If we could get a fraction of those [manufacturing opportunities], this would make a significant difference to workers in South Africa," Bernstein said.
"Continuing with our current policy framework will not result in the millions of jobs and much higher growth that we need."
The research documents argue that "the fact that the SA economy has become increasingly skills-intensive has had disastrous consequences for millions of poor households.
"This approach has effectively ruled out the establishment of low-wage, labour-intensive industries that could create significant numbers of jobs. Prohibiting employers from offering low wages has taken a whole range of potentially viable economic activities off the table," the documents read.
It said between 2008 and 2014 the economy produced almost 900000 net jobs, however, more than 750000 of those were created in the community and social services category.
"It seems clear that, under the present circumstances, the SA economy is effectively incapable of creating large numbers of jobs in the productive economy."
The documents also lashed out at the labour regime, describing procedures for disciplining or dismissing employees as time-consuming and expensive.
"This raises employer's costs but does not raise workers' monthly wages, although it does protect workers from losing their jobs.
"Similarly, strikes, which are steadily becoming longer, more frequent and increasingly violent, impose a range of costs on employers that cannot be recovered and are then passed on to workers," Bernstein said.
sibanyonim@sowetan.co.za
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