The Department of Labour’s probe into the funeral undertaking business which aims to introduce a sectoral determination has just concluded its last provincial leg in Rustenburg, North West, following a hectic opening schedule that saw officials moving from one part of the province to the other.
The events form part of the Employment Conditions Commission's (ECC) programme that will culminate with labour Minister, Mildred Oliphant, announcing a new wage and conditions of employment for the industry in March 2014.
Shaun Feldman, deputy director of employment standards, told stakeholders that the old determination which operated in the past excluded managers a d had conditions of employment that were inferior to the current Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA).
According to preliminary report of the ECC, the funeral undertaking sector includes:
- The embalming and burial or cremation of the dead as well as the planning and arrangement of the actual funeral ceremony;
- Many unregistered employers; and
- Coffin making, burial societies as well as businesses linked to the sector such as banks and insurance companies.
He said in terms of the BCEA, an employer must pay an employee who works on Sunday double time the hourly rate. “If the employee regularly works on a Sunday, he must be paid one and half times the hourly rate. If an employee works less than ordinary shift, an employee must receive a daily wage,’’ he said.
Feldman said the department would be glad to facilitate an Indaba that helps to set up standards for the industry in collaboration with other government departments. This, he said, would help ‘’rid the industry of the bad name emanating from bad apples.’’
He said the overwhelming feeling across the north-west was that the industry should be demarcated to take into account the urban-rural divide considering ‘’the costs and different ways of running funeral services.’’
He said the industry would need to guide the ECC as to whether to set up one national minimum wage for the sector. Equally important was to agree on the period of the wage determination with most employers indicating their preference for a three-year period.
Stakeholders were encouraged to forward their proposals to the Director: Employment Standards, Private Bag X117, Pretoria, 0001 for the attention of Mogodi Masenya. The hearings team is currently conducting presentations in the Northern Cape.
