Domestic workers’ new Minimum Wage Bill comes into effect

Domestic workers are to see their wages increase from R3 700 to R4 100 as the new Minimum Wage Bill comes into effect on Wednesday.

The bill allows for a 9.6% increase.

Organiser for the South African Domestic Services and Allied Workers Union, Gloria Kente says, “We are welcoming the Minimum Wage amid the challenges we are facing in SA. Food prices going up every month, so we can’t even budget. Electricity [price increase] deals another big damage to us. So, we welcome this as we need to earn better living wages.”

The audio file below is reporting more on the story:

Earlier, Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi said that his department would be taking steps to deal with the exploitation and abuse of domestic workers.

A recent SweepSouth survey conducted in the sector showed that domestic workers in the country are still being severely underpaid.