South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (SADSAWU
) MINIMUM WAGE SUBMISSION
Introduction
On a very cold morning dated 10 June 2001, in KTC Cape Town, the Minister of Labour of the Republic of South Africa, Membathisi Mdladlana, launched the results of the investigation into minimum wages and conditions of employment for domestic workers within this beautiful country of ours. We went to the hearing in high spirits, singing and chanting our "Amandla’s", at last a wage determination for domestic workers, a start to recognising our value and contribution to the economy of our country,South Africa.
How does one describe the cold feeling that killed the warmth around your heart that was full of hope for a living wage for us the domestic workers?
Where do you find enough tissues or toilet paper to stop the running tears as you once again find yourself the outcast of society, the voiceless workers, one of the most exploited and neglected workforces in the world?
How do you restrain yourself from running on to the platform where the Minister and his team were sitting, to demonstrate your anger, disappointment and disgust?
How do you leave from there and report to workers this is what your government is thinking about you? They (the Government) say their mothers were domestic workers too, but yet they deny them a decent wage. The lives of Ministers have improved, they are earning a fortune, but look at what they are proposing we should live on!
We left that hall with a hollow emptiness within ourselves, void of all feelings, numb with shock We believed that things would change after 1994, but our belief was shattered on that day..
This is real - we have been transferred back to the past. We the urban workers have been told to go and survive per month on R600; rural workers between R500 and R400 and part-time workers on R3-07 per hour.
Someone out there or up there listen to us! We look after the Nation.
This is our Submission,
SADSAWU,
the voice of the domestic workers.
Our submission will deal with the reality!
Unionising Domestic Workers Firstly we would like to respond to the Minister’s constant harping on
(a) unions must organise domestic workers
(b) domestic workers must join trade unions
The Minister alleged that unions were not doing their work on the ground, unions were not servicing workers, this is a contradiction in terms.
The Minister needs to answer these questions:
(a) How does one organise domestic workers more efficiently, when the law (BCEA) states clearly that you need to have permission from the employer to get to the worker in the backyard?
(b) Why is it that workers are not aware of the law that allows them the right to join a trade union of their choice? Why is it that workers do not have access to the law? Why is it that the law is not written in their language? Why is it that they just do not know about the law? What role is the Department of Labour playing in raising the awareness of domestic workers around the laws?
(c) How does one begin to fight these Agencies legalised by the Minister? These Agencies bring young girls to the urban areas where they get hired / or should we say sold to the highest bidder. They are paid from R50 to R350 per month. If they are not happy with their job or when they are fired, the agent just throws them to the dogs, the agent does not help them! Some of these young women are left homeless, not knowing anyone in the city. They resort to living on the streets and some even become prostitutes. Yet the Minister is of the opinion that these Agencies are the answer to job creation.
In the meantime the agencies are enriching themselves as they charge employers R100 per worker. Therefore every time they change the workers' employer they receive R100. With the result that one worker could bring in an income of about R600 to the agency. The worker only gets paid after 2 to 3 months, as she must repay to the agent the taxi fare of about R150 - R200.
So where does one start to unionise the 1 million domestic workers Mr. Minister given the obstacles placed in our way by you and your government!
The reality of the low, unrealistic proposed minimum wage for the Domestic Sector is that it will mean nothing in the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers and their families. It does not recognise this sector as active contributors to building the economy of our country instead it sees us just as people cleaning.
Although....." the State recognises its responsibility of protecting vulnerable workers ...."(ExecutiveSummary July 2001) the very existence of domestic workers are denied when it comes to labour laws. Domestic Workers find themselves as the beggars, waiting for the hand outs from the employer, government etc.
Mr.. Minister do you think this pathetic wage that is being proposed is ....."affording us our dignity?......is treating us with respect......? (Minister of Labour’s Speech at launch of Report)
The proposed Minimum Wage is a Poverty Wage, it s a wage that strips us of any opportunity of improving our lives. With this wage we will not be able to afford to access housing, security, health…etc all these rights that together we fought for.
This wage will take us back to the 'apartheid years', we shall remain in poverty. The Minister and his task team should work for the wages proposed for three months. Live the reality of earning slave wages and then give us a report back.
Let us step back a moment. Let us look at a typical job description of a domestic worker. Here is a list of some of the tasks:
does the cleaning
cooking
takes care of the children
cares for the elderly
acts as a messenger
gives advice to employer and the children
nurses the sick
used as a security guard
does the shopping
assists with the entertaining
When the Task Team was appointed what did they investigate?
Did they only look at the role of a domestic worker as cleaning the house?
Did they not look at what happens in the daily life of a domestic worker? What really takes place in the life of a domestic worker?
from early in the morning until late at night?
from Monday's to Sunday's?
from Sunrise to Sunset?
Here is a "Day in the Life" of a domestic worker,
as told to us by one of our members:
My name is Janet, I am 53 years old, I come from the Eastern Cape. I came to Cape Town to look for work as my husband had died and I had two children to take care of. I work in Upper Claremont for the Mc Donald's. I have been with them for 13 years. The Mc Donald's do not work they are a retired couple. I have my own room with a toilet and bathroom. I share this with my youngest daughter who is at College.
06h30
I wake up. (every morning)
07h30
I have to be in the kitchen to prepare the breakfast. While waiting for instructions on what kind of breakfast to prepare, I set the table with a pretty table cloth, with different jams, honey, butter, bread, the toaster etc. They must have choices. This is very important. For example if they want fruit salad, I must put cream, custard and yogurt on the table, they will decide what they will eat.
08h00
They have their breakfast. I must make sure that I do work close to the kitchen, in case I am needed.
09h00
Breakfast is finish, I clear the table. While cleaning up I try to drink a cup of coffee (this is my first cup for the day) and eat a piece of left over toast. I am not allowed to eat while they are eating.
After cleaning the kitchen, I do the housework. That is cleaning three bedrooms, a study, lounge, dining room and 2 bathrooms. I also have specific duties to do every day. Like Monday's washing, ironing, Tuesday's cleaning kitchen cupboards, the fridge, the stove etc. This routine is repeated every week.
12h00
I set out the ice and sodas for drinks in the lounge and wait for instructions on what to cook for lunch.
14h00 - 16h00
Is my resting period
16h00 - 20h00 (if there are visitors, I stop work later. I do not get paid extra for this)
I cook supper, serve supper and clean up afterwards. My employer dishes me a plate of food after they have eaten. The food is always ice cold. The food is only enough for one person. Even if there is enough food left I will not be given more. For example I will only get one drumstick even if there is more than half a chicken over. She says she is afraid that I will feed my daughter from her food. I am not allowed to cook in my room, so my daughter never gets a cooked meal from her mother.
On Thursday's and Sunday's I work until 10h00. This means I cannot go to church in the morning. I only go back on duty the following morning at 07h30.
How can R600 per month (urban workers) R500-R400 per month (rural workers) improve this worker’s life?
We are told stories by numerous workers of how food is used as a WEAPON!
Employer is depressed, angry with me for what reason I do not know......result:
I have to eat the scraps from the table, she forgets that I exist and just does not feedme!
Workers, mothers. Grandmothers are treated like little children, spoken down to, dehumanised.
We invite you on a journey. Worker 'A' - Day Worker
Lives in Khayalitshe traveling to Sea Point.
Cost of train ticket to Cape Town = R14-00
Return ticket from Cape Town to Sea Point = R5-00 R19-00
The proposal suggests that this worker be paid R3-07 per hour. The BIG question is:
Does this worker go to work and do a favour for the employer? or Does this worker stay at home and therefore join the unemployment queue! Worker 'B' - Sleep In Worker
As suggested by the investigating team, the above worker should earn the following:
R600 per month
- R150 rental for room
R450
- R400 *money for children at home
R50 left for the month to buy toiletries etc.
*Reported to us by a worker whose family lives in the rural area.
This worker is stuck in her room for the rest of the month. She does not even have money to pay for school fees. Her child’s school fees are R2200 per year, she is allowed to pay this off over 10 months.
The proposals made by the investigating team to the Minister was based on:
the outcry of ...we cannot have job losses... we must protect jobs...!
we cannot weaken the economy
we cannot add to the unemployment queue
we should address the levels of poverty within the domestic sector etc.
Did this team not know that domestic workers have been suffering under low wages for a life time!
There will always be job losses. The reality is that employers in South Africa will always depend on domestic workers. How does this 'fear' of job losses correspond with what Adv. Rams Ramashia: Director General: Department of Labour had to say in his Opinion Piece for National Women's Day. Focusing on Domestic Workers…." ".......Government is acutely aware of the fact that domestic work remains a major employment generator as there are close to 800 000 domestic workers in South Africa support millions of dependents. It is interesting to note that the demand for domestic work has not declined despite the introduction of new labour laws......"
This is further backed up in the Minister's media statement on the release of the report. We quote.... "domestic workers raise millions of South Africans....Domestic workers enabled, particularly women, to leave their homes and work, thus contributing to economic growth....."
These employers have always been privileged by having cheap labour at their doorstep, these proposals are ensuring that the status quo remains.
We further see that the report consolidates the inequality between urban and rural workers. The report assumes that all people in rural areas are poorer than people in urban areas. There is no evidence to tell us that employers in rural areas are poorer. The only evidence we have is that workers are poorer because they are paid less.
The report does not realise and therefore does not adequately address the following categories of domestic workers:
Full-time, live-in domestic worker
Full-time, live-away domestic worker
A Part-time (few days per week) domestic worker
We categorically reject the divide between rural and urban workers. It goes against values which our constitution upholds and against Article 14 of the Convention of Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), to which South Africa is a signatory.
We are Proposing the Following:
WAGES
All full-time domestic workers (sleeping in) should earn a living wage of R1200-00 per month.
All full-time domestic worker (sleep out) should earn a living wage of R1200 per month plus
transport costs.
AllPart-time domestic workers should earn R10-00 per hour plus transport costs; A minimum of
R50 if working less than 4 hours per day.
There should be negotiated, agreed upon increases annually..
JOB LOSSES
Those employers who cannot afford to pay R1200-00 per month, should sit down and negotiate a contract with the worker and the union agreeing to the reduction of working hours without loss of pay. This reduction in working hours would allow the worker to seek additional employment, and therefore increase her earning power. Further it should be made law that any employer who claims that they cannot afford to pay the enforced minimum wage and on this basis dismisses the worker without first trying to reduce the hours of work should be penalized. It should be noted that the report does make this suggestion to the employers but it ends there. The implementation of this suggestion seems to be based on the goodwill of the employers. Wrong, if we could rely on the goodwill of employers, there would be no need for any of this! If we do rely on the goodwill of employers, we will never move beyond exactly the situation that has created the problems for domestic workers today.
You see Mr. Minister our theory is this. It is true that there are many poor people in South Africa who could not afford to pay a decent wage for domestic workers. Those poor people know what happens in all other areas of their lives. They listen to the Minister who tells them that "nothing is for mahala". They know that if they can not afford a loaf of bread, the government does not lower the price. They have to buy half a loaf of bread in order to eat. But when it comes to paying for domestic service, the approach changes. Instead of making sure that there are decent services provided by the state for workers who are paid a living wage, the government transfers the problem to domestic workers who will end up unable to pay for services exactly because they are domestic workers and their pay is too low. At the same time, many rich employers benefit by also being able to pay wages far below what they can actually afford.
ACCOMMODATION The report acts as if a worker paying for her room is getting a privilege, not paying as a tenant. The report recognises that for many workers, the main problem in relation to live-in work is the lack of privacy. For the employer, the house is their home. For the worker, it is their workplace. The worker who is effectively paying for her room - should have at least the same rights as any tenant. These rights, for example being, that the worker has the right to receive visitors, to affordable, decent private quarters etc. DISMISSALS / DEDUCTIONS
Domestic workers are dismissed every day for theft, breakages, illness, old age, pregnancy, asking for increases etc.
Any breach of contract should be dealt with through disciplinary hearings with the union representing the workers. The process should take its legal course by taking it to the CCMA. Conclusion
We see the fight for the inclusion of domestic workers under the Unemployment Insurance Bill
and COIDA intrinsically linked to the fight for a Living Wage!
We can clearly see that the Government who we helped get into power, only cares about the bosses and not the workers. The low wage being proposed will only benefit the bosses and make them happy. If you add up what the role of the domestic worker is in a day, a week, a month, you will discover that she/he deserves to be paid the salary of the highest paid, the most valued worker or even the Minister's salary.
We ask the Minister and the members of the Employment Conditions Commission to answer this question for themselves "Could you survive on R600-00 a month?"
SUBMITTED ON BEHALF OF THE MEMBERS OF
THE SOUTH AFRICAN DOMESTIC SERVICE AND ALLIED WORKERS UNION (SADSAWU) Hester Stephens Myrtle Witbooi
SADSAWU PRESIDENT SADSAWU GENERAL SECRETARY