i) A number of strikes for higher wages are underway in the petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries – against this backdrop, Lonmin, the world’s third-largest platinum producer, still feeling the effects of previous rounds of crippling strikes, announced that it had cut its workforce by nearly 20% by the end of 2016, in a bid to keep afloat.
ii) Negotiations by social partners at national level about the possible introduction of a national minimum wage are ongoing.