Photo by: Duane Daws
The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) on Thursday said it will make submissions to assist the Department of Labour to investigate the wages of taxi drivers and rank marshals.
A day after the department launched the probe, provincial chairman for Satawu in the taxi sector, Morake Mokoena said: “Our Secretary General will submit a consolidated report of our dissatisfaction to the department. The government’s policy is good, but the department keeps on reviewing it while the taxi industry is not complying with the basic conditions of employment”.
Mokoena said Satawu members were working long hours with no holidays, yet taxi owners have been allowed to get away with this since 2004 when the sectoral determination was promulgated.
Announcing the investigation on Wednesday, the department said it was inundated with complaints from taxi drivers who claim their employers were not complying with the taxi industry’s sectoral determination.
The sectoral determination spells out minimum wages, number of leave days, working hours and termination rules among other conditions of employment.
The minimum wage for drivers was pegged at R2 847.01 by the department, while rank marshals should be paid R2 275.81 a month.
“The taxi drivers complain about the long hours they work, that they are not paid properly and there is no compliance with sectoral determination on the part of operators,” said Mokgadi Pela, the acting department spokesperson.
“They (taxi drivers) also say they have no contracts, no deductions for the unemployment insurance fund and no payslips. They have appealed to the Minister [Mildred Oliphant] to assist.”
Pela said the department will next week announce the dates for public hearings that will be held in all nine provinces to set the new wages.
“The public hearings will begin in two weeks time and should be completed before June 30 as the new sectoral determination takes effect from 1 July,” Pela said.
He said they were inviting stakeholders to make their submissions at the hearings.
Meanwhile, the department also announced that it will, on 10 February, begin national public hearings and on-site visits as part of an effort to review the minimum wages and employment conditions in the hospitality sector.
The hospitality sector’s three-year sectoral determination comes to an end on 30 June 2016.