The Department of Labour will commence with the process of conducting an investigation into the building sector with the view to establish a Sectoral Determination (SD) tomorrow. It prescribes minimum wages and conditions of employment for this sector.
The Department is set to host a series of national public hearings aimed at obtaining inputs from employers and employees in the Building sector regarding:
- The feasibility of establishing a sectoral determination for the Building Sector;
- The categories of employees to be covered by a possible sectoral determination;
- Determining the mechanism to be utilised for setting minimum wages and annual increases;
- Determining the factors to be taken into consideration when setting minimum wages;
- Determining the level at which minimum wages should be pegged; and
- Any other conditions related to the operation within the sector.
The initial public hearing and two site visits of building sector undertakings will start tomorrow – with the intention of allowing stakeholders in the sector to further submit their inputs regarding the investigation.
The first hearing will be held at the Sport and Recreation Hall in Pretoria North. All hearings are scheduled to start at 10am. The public hearings will end on 29 August 2014 in George, Newcastle and Polokwane respectively.
SD entails aspects that deal with the protection of workers in vulnerable sectors/areas of work. The determination sets minimum working hours, minimum wages, number of leave days and termination rules.
South Africa currently has SDs for:
- Artistic and Cultural Activities;
- Children in the Performance of Advertising Sector, Civil Contract Cleaning Sector;
- Civil Engineering Sector;
- Domestic Worker Sector;
- Farm Worker Sector;
- Forestry Sector;
- Hospitality Sector Learnerships;
- Private Security Sector;
- Taxi Sector; and
-
Wholesale & Retail Sector.
Last year the Minister of Labour, Mildred Oliphant, initiated a similar process for the Funeral Undertaking Sector. The sector’s SD is now waiting for gazetting.
The Building Sector currently has no SD. The sector is instead covered by the Bargaining Councils in different provinces but does not cover the entire country. Some of these Bargaining Councils are found in areas such as: Bloemfontein, East London, Kimberley, North and West Boland, and parts of South and Eastern Cape.
For the sake of this investigation, the building industry means the industry in which employers and their employees are associated for the purpose of erecting, completing, renovating, repairing, maintaining or altering buildings or structures, whether the work is performed, the material is prepared or the necessary articles are made on the sites of the buildings or structures elsewhere.
Enquiries:
Mokgadi Pela
Acting Ministerial Liaison Officer
Mobile: 082 808 2168
Email: mokgadi.pela@labour.gov.za
