Exploitative wages in the hospitality industry will be outlawed following the Labour Department’s announcement on Monday that minimum wages for workers in the sector will be introduced in July.
Briefing the media in Cape Town, Deputy Director General of Labour Les Kettledas said the wages will apply to all the sector’s entities across the country.
”Unlike determinations in other sectors, these regulations apply to all entities in the sector, irrespective of where such an entity is located,” he said.
The only distinguishing feature in the determinations will be the size of an entity.
According to the determinations, companies employing 10 or fewer people will have to pay their employees a minimum wage of R1 400 per month, while those employing 10 or more people have to pay R1 650 per month.
Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said the determinations follow an investigation into the working conditions of workers in the sector. ”The investigation came out with quite disturbing things — it found that some of workers only got tips as their wages,” he said.
While he could not rule out the possibility that employers may react to the determinations with anger, Mdladlana said the regulations are also a good thing for employers.
”In the past, employers who paid less were losing their workers to those that paid better, and as a result this created uncertainty nd lack of stability,” he said.
Mdladlana admitted that with the sector having more than 40 000 entities, it could be difficult to monitor the implementation of the regulations. — Sapa