Department of Labour to conclude stakeholder engagement with Contract Cleaning Sector on the review of conditions of employment and minimum wage
The Department of Labour is to enter the last stretch of its series of national public hearings to review the conditions of employment and minimum wage in the Contract Cleaning sector.
The Department has been hosting a series of workshops to source inputs from industry stakeholders. The inputs sourced relate among other factors - to what levels should the minimum wage be pegged? What should be taken into consideration when setting minimum wage? Period of wages and annual increases and any other conditions of employment that need to be amended?
Coupled with workshops the department has been conducting select site visits to establishments employing contract cleaners.
The current Sectoral determination which governs conditions of employment and minimum wages in the Contract Cleaning Sector comes to an end on 30 November 2016. The new minimum wage in the sector is expected to kick in on 1 December 2016.
The Contract Cleaning Sector is deemed “vulnerable” and the department protects workers by establishing minimum conditions of employment and prescribing minimum wages. Thus the Minister of Labour has ordered an investigation into the Contract Cleaning sector with a view to review prescribing minimum wages and conditions of employment
Tomorrow (November 2) the department will host a public hearing workshop at the Department of Labour offices boardroom at Laboria House located at Charlotte Maxeke Street in Bloemfontein, Free State. The public hearings will conclude next week on November 9 at The Beach Hotel, Marine Drive in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. The public hearings start at 10:00.
The first in a series of public hearings started in Johannesburg on October 7. This was followed by public hearings in Emalahleni (Witbank), Kimberley, Bellville, Mafikeng, and Polokwane.
In terms of the current Sectoral Determination contract cleaning workers are paid according to demarcated regions. In Area A workers should earn a minimum wage of R18, 01 per hour (2015: R16, 98).
Area A includes Metropolitan Councils: City of Cape Town, Greater East Rand Metro, City of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela. It also includes Local Council: Emfuleni, Merafong, Mogale City, Metsimaholo, Randfontein, Stellenbosch, Westonaria.
Area B includes KwaZulu-Natal excluding any area covered by a bargaining council. The rates per hour are determined by the Bargaining Council.
Area C includes the rest of the Republic of South Africa, and the rate per hour of R16,41 (2015: R15,47) is applicable.
When reviewing conditions of employment and minimum wage the Employment Conditions Commission (ECC) considers the following factors:
- The size of the operations
- The ability of employers to carry on their business successfully;
- The cost of living; the alleviation of poverty;
- Conditions of employment;
- Wage differentials and inequality;
- The likely impact of any proposed condition of employment on current employment or the creation of employment;
- The possible impact of any proposed conditions of employment on the health, safety or welfare of employees;
- any other relevant information.
The Employment Conditions Commission is a body that advises Labour Minister on the minimum wage review for “vulnerable sectors” whose wage is governed by Sectoral Determination.
For more information please contact:
Mokgadi Pela
Acting Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 082 808 2168
