South Africa’s former ruling party, the New National Party, has objected to government’s raising of the earnings threshold set by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act — the point at which employees are excluded from the Act’s provisions regarding overtime payment.
The threshold is to be raised from March 24 to R115 572 per annum. That means employees earning more than that must reach agreement with their employer themselves over overtime. The new threshold represents a R16 117 per annum
increase on the old threshold level.
New National Party labour representative Johann Durand said the ANC government
“should stop interfering in every aspect of people’s lives”.
“The increasing of the salary threshold of senior personnel to be included in the basic conditions of the Employment Act, is once again a tactic of the Minister of Labour to regulate every aspect of the lives of South African workers.
“Senior managerial staff are not vulnerable workers and should be permitted to negotiate on their own behalf,” said Durand.
“A successful market economy thrives on the force of demand and supply. Allowing people to negotiate their own conditions of employment stimulates this dynamic,” he said.
Labour official in charge of the basic conditions legislation Annemarie van Zyl could not be reached for comment Friday. – I-Net Bridge