LETTER: Minimum wage pain

The increase in the national minimum wage to be implemented from March 1 will be a tipping point in the future employment of domestic workers in SA. The middle classes who employ most domestic workers are under pressure, and the obligatory increase in their salaries will lead to people immediately thinking about dismissals for operational requirements (retrenchment).

Already I am receiving dozens of calls to this end. Though the national minimum wage is not a handsome salary by any means, it does put enormous pressure on households that need to count every penny. We are advised that almost 100,000 domestic workers have already lost their jobs, possibly more since the Covid-19 outbreak. We expect the numbers of domestic workers to drop even further.

The department of employment & labour wants us to believe that it was not the minimum wage that caused these waves of retrenchment, but every time the national minimum wage has gone up for domestic workers we see the figures drop. What we don’t know and probably will never know is how many households would have considered employing new domestic workers but for the restrictive minimum wage.

We often hear that if households can’t afford the wage for a domestic worker they could apply for an exemption (of no more than 10%). My understanding is that most of the applications for exemptions have been turned down, and in any event a 10% reduction will not encourage anyone to take on a new domestic worker. In my discussions with breadwinners in households I’m hearing that with them having to tighten their belts they would rather not employ at all.

The government, in its extending public works programme, only has to pay just more than 50% of the national minimum wage, with the excuse that it can’t afford to pay more. It seems rather rich for the government to exempt itself from the national minimum wage but not do the same for struggling households.

Michael Bagraim, MP
DA employment & labour spokesperson

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