THE contrasting responses of Cosatu and Nafcoc to the appointment last week of a seven-person panel of experts on the national minimum wage were instructive.Cosatu, loudest in calling for a "meaningful" national minimum wage, zeroed-in on the plight of low-income workers, calling for the panel to apply its mind to what would constitute a minimum wage that would make a real difference for the 5.5-million workers earnings below the working-poor line.Nafcoc welcomed the appointment of the panel with reservations, lamenting small business was not represented among the experts. It wants the panel to consider the small and medium enterprises that provide employment for about 60% of the labour force, and are responsible for providing almost all new jobs that are created. For Nafcoc, therefore, the more than 6-million unemployed people seemed to be more the issue, with the interests of small business and particularly of small black business. It called for carefully sequenced, multiple minim...
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