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The Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) notes the newly-released minimum wages for domestic workers and advises members on the application thereof.  The Federation urges its members to apply these guidelines responsibly to ensure decent work for domestic workers.
 
According to Sectoral Determination 7, the minimum wages of domestic workers will increase with effect from 1 December 2012.  The increases have for the past years been calculated as Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus one percent in urban areas or plus two percent in rural areas, and this year is the same.
 
Domestic workers in urban areas, working more than 27 ordinary hours per week will from 1 December 2012 onwards earn R1746,00 per month, compared to the R1625.70 of 2012.  Domestic workers in rural areas will now earn a minimum wage of R1376,25 per month.
 
“Most of our members are employers of domestic workers,” said FEDUSA General Secretary Dennis George.  “We have always advised our members to ensure that they provide decent working conditions to the domestic workers in their employ.  It is important to note that the minimum wages set by the Department [of Labour] is only a guideline and the bare minimum.  Employers should rather sit down with their domestic workers and discuss realistic increases linked to the rising cost of living.  We advise employers to use the CPI as a rule of thumb when entering talks with their workers, and then take into account specific factors affecting cost of living.  Transport cost, as well as food cost, for instance, could be factors to take into account,” added George.
 
Over and above the sectoral determination, domestic workers are also protected in terms of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act which makes provision for paid annual leave of 21 consecutive days, family responsibility leave, maternity leave as well as sick leave.  Domestic workers are also protected in terms of the maximum working hours per week of 45 hours and 10 hours overtime with a one hour meal break per day and a rest period of 36 hours.
 
“FEDUSA thanks those employers who already pay their domestic more than the minimum wage and those who provide free accommodation and meals.  We urge them to continue to do so as this is a clear act of social cohesion and nation building to help more fellow South Africans out of absolute poverty,” George added.
 
According to Statistics South Africa employment in private households has increased from 1,098 million in June/September 2011 to 1,123 million in June 2012.
 
“FEDUSA believes that domestic workers play a critical role in our economy and all employers must ensure that they do everything in their power to promote decent working conditions for domestic workers.  We must show that we respect and value their contribution. We also call on private employment agencies not to deduct levies from the salaries of domestic workers and we ask the Department of Labour Inspectorate to ensure that our country is not in violation of the ILO Convention on Domestic Workers,” George added.
 
FEDUSA earlier this year applauded Government for the intention to ratify a convention outlining decent working conditions for domestic workers.  Already on 22 March 2008 the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) decided to include the item “Decent Work for Domestic Workers” on the agenda of the 99th session (2010) of the International Labour Conference (ILC).  Back then, FEDUSA’s mother body, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) cited “excessively long working hours, low pay, little social security, sexual harassment, physical violence, abuses by the recruiting agents, forced labour, an increasing use of child labour” as some of the core concerns that led to this focus.
 
The ITUC also emphasised the “extreme vulnerability of this group of workers, particularly migrants and women, and the desperate lack of decent work” as well as the exclusion of these workers from international law, national labour legislation, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.
 
FEDUSA actively participated in the ILO negotiations of 2010 and 2011, and following a week of intense negotiations at the 100th session, governments, employers and workers from across the globe reached agreement on the 19 articles which would make up the first international convention on domestic work.
 
At its fifth National Congress last year, FEDUSA also adopted a resolution in this regard.  This resolution (29) recognised realities such as the fact that domestic work is one of the oldest and most important occupations for millions of women around the world and that domestic work remains undervalued and in many countries falls outside the scope of labour legislation.  The Federation inter alia resolved to find practical ways in which unions and national centres can provide services to support domestic workers.
 
“FEDUSA remains committed to practice what it preaches,” said George.  “While our members are employees and we always campaign for the protection of their rights and promotion of their interests around the negotiation table, our members are also employers of domestic workers.  It is important for members to be fair towards their domestic workers if they expect fairness from their own employers.  This is a universal principle of fairness and we urge our members to ensure decent work and provide decent wages for the domestic workers in their employ”, concluded George.