Glenda Daniels African men work a longer week than any other South Africans, while white women work the shortest number of hours – almost a day a week less, according to statistics released this week by the Department of Labour.
When the department released its report on the feasibility of achieving a 40-hour week – through legislation and flexible working patterns – it also released statistics by race and gender. African men work an average of 48,1 hours a week, white men 46, coloured men 45, Indian men 44,9, African women 44,3, coloured women 41,7, Indian women 42,1 and white women 41 hours.
According to researcher Debbie Budlender’s report, the average working week of all South Africans, irrespective of race and gender, is 44,85 hours. Agricultural workers work the longest number of hours, followed by miners. The move to a 40-hour working week is one of the most important possible amendments to South Africa’s labour legislation currently on the table. There are already positive results in some sectors from cutting the working week; for instance, the chemical industry experienced a 3,3% overall increase in employment after the working week was reduced. However, the number of permanent jobs decreased by 4,3%. Besides creating employment, other reasons for a reduced working week include improved working conditions, adequate rest and a resultant decrease in fatigue, increased efficiency, a better combination of work and private life, and encouragement of the partici-pation of women in the world of work.
International trends show that the lessening of working hours has often brought about increased employment. Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana said that it is difficult to draw on experience from the rest of Africa as there are too many human rights abuses in the world of work.
He also said that research had intended to look at “examples in South Africa where the successful reduction of working hours to a 40-hour week had occurred. Once research began it was realised that there are not many such experiences or that the experiences were too new to draw significant conclusions.
“However, the department will be following this up when it reports to Nedlac [the National Economic, Development and Labour Council] and Parliament in two years’ time.” Presenting a slide show on international trends, Department of Labour chief director Lisa Seftel said the 40-hour week is the trend in 42 countries; on average Australians work a 38-hour week, while Thais work a 54-hour week. Seftel said, however, that the reduced working week’s effect in overseas countries is not uniform. Whereas in some countries it has led to increased employment, in others there has been no real difference. Countries overseas have used different methods of achieving the shorter working week. France used legislation, Australia the award system, Spain tripartite agreements, Denmark national collective agreements and Britain company agreements. The Congress of South African Trade Unions says it is concerned that the labour minister cannot commit to the 40-hour week in the near future. The Strategy for Job Creation document, approved at its recent seventh national congress, commits the federation to campaign for “a reduction in working time to 40 hours a week, to encourage employers to hire more workers rather than pay fewer people overtime”.
Cosatu believes reducing the working week forces employers to take on more full-time workers rather than squeezing more hours from existing workers. It thus creates more employment and brings the bonus that workers have more time for education and recreation.