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Improving conditions for South Africa’s domestic workers will require an intense collaboration between government, employers, unions and the private sector.
A special summit was held in Cape Town and focused specifically on how change could be facilitated in the domestic worker sector.
Carlton Johnson, Convening Senior Commissioner of the Western Cape CCMA said that Domestic Workers fall into the category of vulnerable workers, one of the sectors that the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) is currently focusing on.
“This summit was unique as it provided synergy between the placement agencies, unions, government and other social partners,” said Christine Rebe, co-founder of Super Nannies, which specialises in placing trained domestic workers and child carers with families.
Key speaker, Shawn Christiansen explained how being a domestic worker is not a job that people aspire to be and is usually on people due to circumstances.
He elaborated further by pointing out how domestic workers sometimes have to travel long distances to a job that could pay as little as about R70, half of which had to go to covering their transport costs to and from work. This leaves little money left over for food and housing, not to mention education fees for children.
According to Trevor Bailey, an inspector with the Department of Labour, a recent labour inspection blitz in neighbourhoods in Cape Town and Somerset West revealed a high level of non-compliance with labour laws, with 39% of employers in Somerset West not following the terms of the law in terms of their domestic workers’ employment.
But this is not representative of all South African employers of domestic workers. Rebe revealed the results of a Department of Labour survey, showed that the majority of their employers paid far over and above the minimum wage to their employees and included the mandatory hour lunch break as well.
She said Super Nannies was guided by strong values and a firm code of ethics, which determined that no employees would be placed in households for salaries under R3 500 a month.
The current law states that domestic workers who work more than 27 hours a week be paid a minimum of R1 877.90 per month in urban areas and R 1 618.37 in rural areas. But Myrtle Witbooi, general secretary of the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (Sadsawu), said the current minimum wage was far too low and should be raised to at least R2 500 a month.
She said the biggest problem facing domestic workers was that they were not respected and their work wasn't valued.
While it may take a while to find solutions for the challenges in this sector, Johnson said the summit was an important step in the right direction to get all the various stakeholders in the same room and able to raise their concerns.
"This summit was the result of an idea that emerged in meeting of a few people in a room somewhere. It often starts with a small meeting somewhere. So we are hoping big things will come from this."
Rebe concluded by saying that it is important for people to realise that treating your employees well, with decent pay and good working conditions will result in them treating you and your family well in return too.
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