The chairperson of parliament’s labour portfolio committee, Lumke Yengeni, says public hearings on a national minimum wage for South African workers, will help government set the wage at level that will allow a family to live a decent life.
The Committee has been holding a series of public meetings country-wide to get popular opinion on the proposal.
Correspondent Troye Lunde has more on this story.
Cosatu has called for the minimum wage of about R4,500, which the union believes is sufficient to provide basic support for a family of five.
While the Communications Union believes R12 000 would be better, the National Union of Metalworkers argues that an unemployment grant would be more effective in combating poverty.
The union, which was expelled from Cosatu and which intends contesting the municipal election next year, is critical of government's mimimum wage plan saying that it's nothing more than a move to lull the working classes to sleep ahead of the election.
