IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIl
MATSAPHA - The Ministry of Labour and Social Security will commission wages councils of various sectors with a clear mandate on how to improve workers’ welfare.
This was revealed by the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Phila Buthelezi, after paying a courtesy visit to three companies; two from the textile and apparel sector and one from the security services industry.
The companies which were visited by the minister are; Stealth Security (Pty) Ltd, Tex Ray Group of Companies (Golden Jubilee Factory) and Far East
Textile.
Toured
During the visit, the minister and his team toured the companies and held private talks with the management and representatives of the workers, separately. One of the key issues they asked about as government, was that of the welfare of the workers in the security and textile industries.
The minister said this was because as government, in particular the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, had received a lot of complaints that the workers in these industries were not well taken care of. He said they noted some employers would just stick to the minimum wage as stipulated in the government gazette, which are usually issued after the wages councils’ negotiations.
He added that some of the employers, not only from these sectors, were paying employees even below the gazetted minimum wage.
“Government only sets a minimum wage across the sectors of economy so that workers cannot be paid below the set amount.
“The reasoning was that after the minimum wage had been set by the wages council, the employers and workers’ representatives should meet and bargain on what can be added on top of the minimum wage in order for the employees to survive,” the minister said.
discovery
Thereafter, he said after their latest discovery, they would fix this by giving the wages councils a clear mandate on what to do in terms of improving the welfare of workers in various sectors, as they negotiated with the employers and representatives of the employees.
“We will give them a mandate to take the minimum wage to an amount that could sustain the workers because some employers do not bargain with their employees, instead they either stick to the minimum wage or in a worst case scenario, pay less than it (gazetted minimum wage),” the minister said.
This, the minister said, put other companies at a disadvantage.
For example, he said they gathered that in the security industry, companies that did not comply with the minimum wage, placed their bid lower when bidding for tenders and this put the compliant businesses at a disadvantage because they could not match them since they had to pay workers the gazetted or reasonable salary.
Also, Stealth Security Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Anita Hayes said they pay their employees about E2 500, but when they bid for tenders, some of their competitors charged the client E2 500.
“Some employers do not bargain with their employees, instead they either stick to the minimum wage or in a worst case scenario, pay less than the gazetted minimum wage.”
MiniMuM
“Clearly this means that these companies are paying its companies less than the gazetted minimum wage because from the E2 500 they charge per security guard, they need to deduct operational costs, which include fuel for patrols, among other things,” the CEO said.
In that regard, she said in some tenders, the company did not bid because of the unfair competition they would get from businesses that did not comply with the gazette.