Abstract
M.Comm.
According to Seboni (2007), narrowing the wage gap is a key concern for the trade unions and the linch pin on which many of the current negotiations have been based. Attempts to find a negotiated settlement to the wage dispute between the employer organisations and trade unions in various sectors are more often than not protracted leading to threat and ultimately strike actions by unions and their members. On the other hand Statistics South Africa (StatisticsSA) (2010) has indicated that inflation is down, spending is down, and economic confidence is at its lowest ebb for years. As businesses face up to their most challenging conditions for some time, the pressure on Human Resource (HR)to act is immense because jobs must be cut, wages frozen and recruitment stopped(Charman, 2008). This would not augur well with the unions within the South African environment where there are continuous endeavours to protect jobs, increase wages and a quest to get more unemployed into the job market.The current global economic meltdown requires of all role players to act cautiously in order for organisations to stay competitive whilst at the same time riding the storm.
For the purposes of this study, remuneration includes components such as base pay, fringe benefits and perks, short and medium term incentives as well as long term incentives.