# General Business Category > Business Finance Forum >  Salary and wage increases for 2009

## Dave A

What sort of wage increases can we expect to see this year? 

Despite calls to try to reduce job losses, it seems some unions are not going to be shy with their demands.



> A national protected strike in the road freight and logistics sector is set for March 15, the South African Transport and Allied Workers' Union (Satawu) said in a statement on Monday. 
> 
> The strike -- with regard to the wage dispute declared on January 28 -- would commence at midnight "and will be indefinite until our demands are satisfactorily met", Satawu said.
> 
> "The minimum wage remains very low and currently stands at R883,88 per week for drivers and at R579,16 per week for general workers."
> 
> Satawu has demanded a minimum wage of R6 000 per month for drivers and a minimum wage of R3 000 per month for general workers
> full story from M&G here


That would be something like a 50% increase for drivers!

Whilst I like the idea of attracting a better calibre of driver to the industry (as a road user myself I would *really* appreciate that), I suspect this is going to be the wrong year to expect dramatic wage increases.

What do you think?

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## IanF

Brilliant lets all take the lowest common denominator, the minimum wage, and use that to beat up everyone. 
Anyway what is the general increase for this year, I say 10%.

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## duncan drennan

I think people should just be happy to not receive pink slips.

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## garthu

Really a lot to ask. Short sighted. If they were really to win that the consequences  :Confused:  Retrenched, out of business, higher basic food costs, fuel costs changed (be it marginal) but would have a round house impact

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## SilverNodashi

Dave, I really don't think better salaries for the drivers will improve their driving skills. Money doesn't buy skills.

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## garthu

I did think that myself but didnt comment (decided i've been to contraversial this week ). I think the possibilty of doing the opposite exists. An influx of drivers from other industry ( I might consider the position  :Smile:  ) including people with no experience. Certainly rather a driver than security guards etc. All these new people on the roads.. Could make things worse..  :EEK!:

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## Dave A

I believe pay scales can affect the caliber of who you attract to an industry. It can also affect a person's self-image, something which I have seen in my own organisation.

Let me toss out a line of thought here.

Drivers aren't the only cost in a transport company. In fact, they might be one of the smaller costs. Accidents in particular cost money, which increases insurance premiums - and there have been a lot more accidents in the transport industry. 

Attracting a more conscientious driver to the wheel by paying more to the driver could in the medium term *reduce* costs.

The flies in the ointment would be the LRA which would make getting rid of poor drivers a little tricky, and the current economic climate where there is serious pressure at the short term goal level.

Perhaps a change that can't be achieved in one leap, but it wouldn't be a bad thing to strive towards.

On salary increases for the year, I'm expecting to see more of this:



> Chris de Vos, the general secretary of the United Transport and Allied Trade Union, said yesterday that Transnet management had informed the union that the transport parastatal needed to save R4.9 billion between now and March - the end of its financial year.
> 
> "If that is not the case, they would need to talk to us about no wage increase versus retrenchments," said De Vos.
> full story from Business Report here

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## AmithS

Im with i think people should be lucky not to recieve the boot.

Our org is not even replacing people who are leaving the org.

Id say average of about 5% increases in corporates!!!   :Fence:

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## garthu

Ok, get the way of thinking with that on a medium plan. Could end up with better quality in the long term agreed and therefore reduced costs in the long run. But there timing still REALLY sucks

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## Martinco

> What sort of wage increases can we expect to see this year? 
> 
> Despite calls to try to reduce job losses, it seems some unions are not going to be shy with their demands.
> 
> That would be something like a 50% increase for drivers!
> 
> Whilst I like the idea of attracting a better calibre of driver to the industry (as a road user myself I would *really* appreciate that), I suspect this is going to be the wrong year to expect dramatic wage increases.
> 
> What do you think?


"The minimum wage remains very low and currently stands at R883,88 per week for drivers and at R579,16 per week for general workers."

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 and we must not forget that workers talk to one another over a beer and these things come to the fore .
To them it does not make any sense that in one industry you get x rands and in another y rands for the same job.
I think in our industry we can prepare for about 10%

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## 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  :No:

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## AmithS

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

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## 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.

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## 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.
> ...

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## Martinco

Makes a lot of sense if you drive a vehicle with a 190 liter tank ! :Big Grin: ...............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. :Banghead:  So, just use " Jan Tuisbly se karretjie " :Wink:

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## 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

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## 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.

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duncan drennan (03-Apr-09), Yvonne (08-Apr-09)

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## 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.

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Yvonne (08-Apr-09)

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## 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

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## 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 =  :Rofl: 

Feedback from who? Matriculants?

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## garthu

> Durban = :roll


That makes me jealous... :Wink: 

But Yvonne, 10K  :Confused: , thats really steep. No qualifications, no experience and 10K , tell them to hoof. Joblessness might give them food for thought or maybe lack of.. They need to understand that experience counts for alot..
I recruited a couple of guys (they did have experience various fields, but i required no experience) for R1800. Odd jobs, flyers delivery etc.

A fresh matric cant be worth more than 3-4k, teach him, if he performs and learns well, then yearly review with performance/comm earnings. I seriously believe that he's got to prove him/herself first before making demands like THAT!

Had a guy give me his CV, he's prepared to start at 2k (still in matric, last year) In 2 years, he proves he's worth 10K, cool, otherwise get lost! 
My 2 cents

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## IanF

Yvonne
For a matriculant max is R5k if they have specific training. AFAIK trainee accountants are starting at R7k. As with any job the salaries are all over the place.

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