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Johannesburg - The wage settlement index continued to show a downward trend, said Andrew Levy Employment, an employment and labour consultancy, on Wednesday.
The index, which was introduced in the third quarter of 2010, shows the relative rise and fall of wage settlements year on year from 1995 to date.
The company said current indications were that wage settlement levels would continue to fall in 2011, at a similar or slightly increased rate than 2010.
This fall could be expected to be strongly resisted by the unions, especially those aligned to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which once again would be seeking double-digit increases.
More importantly, unions were firmly focused on the issue of executive remuneration, and bonuses in particular, the consultancy said.
"Their argument is that the level of executive bonuses means that organisations do not have funds available for the increases at the lower level of the organisation," it said.
While there was extreme inequality in the distribution of wages in SA, this was a common feature with a large number of western democracies.
"The so-called 'apartheid wage gap' argument is both generalised and unscientific and far finer and more searching analysis is required.
"However the argument is a moral one, and has immediate appeal to workers. Being a redistributive argument too, means that it moves the discussion away from the CPI as a marker in the negotiation," Andrew Levy said.
The index, which was introduced in the third quarter of 2010, shows the relative rise and fall of wage settlements year on year from 1995 to date.
The company said current indications were that wage settlement levels would continue to fall in 2011, at a similar or slightly increased rate than 2010.
This fall could be expected to be strongly resisted by the unions, especially those aligned to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which once again would be seeking double-digit increases.
More importantly, unions were firmly focused on the issue of executive remuneration, and bonuses in particular, the consultancy said.
"Their argument is that the level of executive bonuses means that organisations do not have funds available for the increases at the lower level of the organisation," it said.
While there was extreme inequality in the distribution of wages in SA, this was a common feature with a large number of western democracies.
"The so-called 'apartheid wage gap' argument is both generalised and unscientific and far finer and more searching analysis is required.
"However the argument is a moral one, and has immediate appeal to workers. Being a redistributive argument too, means that it moves the discussion away from the CPI as a marker in the negotiation," Andrew Levy said.
