E3 500 minimum wage suggestion to be tested
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M– Simphiwe Mkhonta, a domestic worker, has been supporting her two children with E1 100 monthly paid by her employer.
To her, this money is not enough to cover her daily needs, but she consoles herself with fact that it is better than nothing. Mkhonta also says this money is better compared to what her peers get, which is in the region of E800 and E1 000 per month.
From the salary she gets, Mkhonta has to support her five yearold-daughter and general needs of her siblings. But, what Mkhonta is oblivious to, is that the amount may fall too short of the minimum industry salary.
According to the government gazette, they are entitled to E875 if their responsibility is minding just one baby. For every added responsibility, such as cleaning and cooking, she is supposed to earn an additional 25 per cent.
The implication is that for the work that Mkhonta does, she was supposed to earn in the region of E1 500.
Mkhonta and many other workers stand to benefit from government’s initiative to establish a national minimum wage which will come up with a definite amount to be paid to a worker per hour. This is provided for in the Wages Act, No 16 of 1964. Workers have suggested to government that the national minimum wage should be fixed at E3 500.
The Wages Council under the Ministry of Labour and Social Security issued a statement yesterday in which they detailed progress in the establishment of a national minimum wage.
The secretariat of the Wages Council said it intended to submit to the Labour and Social Security Minister Mabulala Maseko Wages
Workers organised under the banner of TUCOSWA in song during a Workers Day commemoration.
Regulation Proposals, which detail the minimum wage that should be paid to workers. The process is also expected to detail the conditions of employment which should be applied to all workers.
Labour Commissioner Mthunzi Shabangu told the Public Accounts Committee last week that the process was also being done in consultation with the Labour Advisory Board.
Study
“It was agreed that a study should be conducted to determine the national minimum wage. We want to establish what it takes for a country to have a national minimum wage. We are also learning from countries that already have the minimum wage such as Namibia and South Africa,” the labour commissioner said.
He said this will be incorporated to the National Decent Work Country Programme which also details the conditions that workers should work under. “After all this has been done, this will be handed over to the minister and they we will launch it,” he said.
In neighbouring South Africa Minister Thulas Nxesi announced that the national minimum wage for each ordinary hour worked had been increased from R21.69 to R23.19 for the year 2022 with effect from March 1, 2022.
It is a general norm that people classed as ‘workers’ must be at least school leaving age to get the national minimum wage. Contracts for payments below the minimum wage are not legally binding.
Currently, textile workers are embroiled in a strike action, where as they are calling for an hourly rate of E15 instead of the E11 they were getting. The complaints also stem from the fact that in the country they earn as little as E2 000 yet in neighbouring SA textile workers earn no less than E4 500 monthly.
According to Paylab, an international research organisation, the salary range for people working in Eswatini is typically from E5 040 (minimum salary) to E16 220 (highest average, actual maximum salary is higher). This is the total monthly salary including bo