On 10 May at 17:30, the Gauteng Chapter of the South African Society for Labour Law (SASLAW) is hosting a seminar at the University of Pretoria’s (UP) Hatfield campus on the National Minimum Wage.   

According to UP’s Prof van Eck in the Department of Mercantile Law of the Faculty of Law, this topic is especially timeous and relevant in light of the upcoming Workers’ Day (1 May) activities and the current burning debate around an appropriate minimum wage in our country. He says “The gap between the highest and the lowest earners in the country is immense and labour market interventions are sorely needed to improve the situation. This will by no means be an easy task. A minimum wage that sets the level too high may cause the lowest income earners becoming unemployed and a too low wage floor will have no impact. This is what makes this debate so relevant and I am encouraging everyone with an interest on this topic to attend.”

The seminar will take the form of a debate between Mr Leon Louw, from the Free Market Foundation (FMF) and Mr Gilaad Isaacs, from the National Minimum Wage Research Initiative.  Mr Cameron Morajane, newly appointed Director of the CCMA, will chair the proceedings.

Mr Leon Louw is the Executive Director of the FMF and their view is that “advocates of a minimum wage law display a callous disregard for South Africa’s most vulnerable citizens: eight million unemployed compatriots; one million people in marginal jobs; tens of thousands of marginal businesses; and hundreds of thousands of aspirant entrepreneurs. The victims of heaping privileges on people fortunate enough to be employed are mostly young or elderly or disabled uneducated black South Africans”.

Mr Gilad Isaacs, the coordinator of the National Minimum Wage Research Initiative at CSID in the School of Economic and Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand argues that “The institution of a national minimum wage, correctly designed and effectively implemented, can change the lives of millions of South Africans. The evidence is unequivocal, minimum wages reduce inequality and poverty, can spur economic growth, and do so with little or no impact on employment. A national minimum wage can be part of South Africa’s economic solution”.

There is an entrance fee of R150 for SASLAW members and R270 for non-members.  The venue will be at the Sanlam Auditorium at the University of Pretoria Hatfield Campus. For more information contact [email protected] or the University of Pretoria’s Department of Mercantile Law on telephone +27 (0)12 420 2346/2763. Refreshments will be served.