Salary and wage increases for 2009

[Dave A]

Well...there seems to be quite an in parity in the wages paid in the different sectors of industry e.g. In Iron and Steel we pay R995.60 for a driver and R811.20 for a general worker as a minimum...

The variance on minimum wages for drivers across different industries that suffer centralised bargaining is absolutely astounding. The taxi industry has a minimum wage for drivers of R 1740,53 per month! And that driver has to have a PDP.

It just doesn't make sense

[AmithS]

The fuel industry also has a standard (MIBCO) for petrol attendants. I think its R11.83 an hour +- R2500 a month.

[Pap_sak]

R6000 per month is not really much for a guy driving a big truck IMO. We have to start giving workers reasons for bettering their lot in life and hopefully competition for better jobs (and easing of labour laws) will increase productivity.

[Dave A]

This looks like it's about to get serious.

Petrol stations will run dry if a strike by the South African Transport and Allied Workers' Union (Satawu) goes ahead, the Fuel Retailers' Association said on Wednesday.

"The infrastructure is under pressure in any event -- so a strike will cause chaos," said the association's CEO Peter Morgan.

He said that Caltex and BP service stations would be the worst hit by the proposed April 7 strike.

"And unfortunately we're not even part of the negotiations -- Satawu are negotiating with the Road Freight Association," he added.

Morgan warned that if the strike occurred -- and if oil companies could not find drivers for their trucks -- chaos would ensue.

Tabudi Ramakgolo, a spokesperson for Satawu, confirmed to Sapa that the union's members were likely to strike on April 7.

This was after a failure to reach an agreement with the Road Freight Association over minimum wages.

The Road Freight Association could not be reached for comment.

However, a notice on its website said Satawu had issued a notice to commence with a strike on April 7 and that the union remained "inflexible".

The notice added that although the Road Freight Association had had several meetings with the union over the past few days, it advised the community to prepare for strike action.
full story from M&G here

[Martinco]

Makes a lot of sense if you drive a vehicle with a 190 liter tank !...............but these are normally 4x4's that give you 4 km/l in any case, so you cannot survive the easter weekend if you have to travel some distance. So, just use " Jan Tuisbly se karretjie "

[Yvonne]

Do you enjoy questions like "How long is a piece of string?"

If you break your company down into job categories, and given that your lowest paid employee - a Cleaner earns R3,750.00 per month what increase in earnings should the next level be, and upwards.

Cleaner/Basic Labor
Labour - (example 25% more earnings than the cleaner/basic labourer?)
Skilled Labor - (example 30% more earnings than the Labor)
Admin - (example 50% more than the skilled labor)
Manager -
Owner -

Would be very grateful if you would give this some thought, and give me some guidelines! I know it would depend on experience, technical skill and length of service, just wondering about an approx. average.

I spoke with a really well spoken, bright youngster in a hardware shop who asked if I had work in our company for him, he was earning R1, 600 take home pay a month.

I do feel that some unethical companies will use the current recession to restrict increases this year, given the potential number of workers expected to be retrenched during 2009.
Even wanting to be as fair as possible, balancing possible recession, and making a long term committment to increased payroll when profits are not quaranteed - is a balancing act!

We have been trying to come up with a share of profits scheme for all employees: advice given to me is "don't do it", the law of unintended consequences always seems to have a sting in the tail whenever we have good intentions!

Yvonne

[Dave A]

Good question, Yvonne.

I've got a sense that overall this might be pretty varied by sector, but in my operation one thing that stood out when I looked at your list is that my skilled labour (qualified technicians) earn significantly more than my admin staff.

[Pap_sak]

I have a small shop and have just two staff - so is alot easier to do than a large company. I work out the breakeven point then add a small salary for myself plus intrest on the capital. After this my assistant manager gets 2.5% of all sales and the other gets 1.5%. Works well as I like being able to hand out extra cash at the end of a month - if I win they win. It also works, nether of them have ever taken a day of sick and bother arrive for work before me.

[Yvonne]

Salaries:
I would so appreciate it if some more forum members would take the time to consider my question and give me more feedback.

You have no idea how much it would help.

We have been seeking a new employee - completely untrained and with no experience, the feedback we are getting is that the salary expectation is R10,000 per month for a matriculant.
Due to such vast differences in cities, and actual positions, there is no "right" salary.

I genuinely feel a better quideline in a specific business is the salary %

Yvonne

[Dave A]

We have been seeking a new employee - completely untrained and with no experience, the feedback we are getting is that the salary expectation is R10,000 per month for a matriculant.

Durban =

Feedback from who? Matriculants?