Article: Pay increase for domestic workers

[Nicodeamus]

I dunno, people are so desperate for work that they would take anything they could get, even if it was a pittance. If there was no law saying you had to pay them at least X amount, we could have veritable slavery on our hands. Waiters and Waitresses are another example - restaurants love to not pay a working wage and leave them to survive on tips alone. The day the working wage rule for service industry was brought into effect was a great day.

I know it makes unskilled labour "worth more" but seriously, we're talking about a paltry amount here to begin with.
R9.85 an hour is still very little. It's essentially R10 for an hour of (probably hard physical) labour. I would starve very quickly if I only made R80 a day. It is necessary, but yes, we need to be careful that we don't push it up too high either. It is only a "minimum" after all.

You would starve for R80 a day, therefore you will not demand that from your employer, if he tells you to work for that you won't work very long for him, you will go towards someone else.

If people are so desperate as to work for R80 and I agree that some of them might be, then at least they can temporarily work for R80, until their worth goes up, afterwords that they can demand more. A domestic worker can obtain skills which is usually measured in years worked for a family first then her worth goes up! I am more likely to hire a domestic worker that worked for someone for 5 or 10 years than juts a random one. therefore the market lifts her up.

However if you have this minimum wage law then she cannot obtain those skills by first working for R80, so effectively she ends up being poorer for longer.

It is not so much about those currently employed who have skills, rather those who are new to the job market and those who are just going to enter it.

 

[AniV]

You would starve for R80 a day, therefore you will not demand that from your employer, if he tells you to work for that you won't work very long for him, you will go towards someone else.

If people are so desperate as to work for R80 and I agree that some of them might be, then at least they can temporarily work for R80, until their worth goes up, afterwords that they can demand more. A domestic worker can obtain skills which is usually measured in years worked for a family first then her worth goes up! I am more likely to hire a domestic worker that worked for someone for 5 or 10 years than juts a random one. therefore the market lifts her up.

However if you have this minimum wage law then she cannot obtain those skills by first working for R80, so effectively she ends up being poorer for longer.

It is not so much about those currently employed who have skills, rather those who are new to the job market and those who are just going to enter it.

I don't fundamentally disagree with anything you've said.
I still feel it's better to have a set minimum so that people are not exploited in those first years. If you're new to the job market with no experience, and have been struggling to get a job for weeks or months, and someone offers you a job earning R2/hr, you're likely to take it because R2/hr is better than nothing. Or they don't pay you anything, but give you a meal.
If the minimum wage was being hiked by an excessive amount, then sure, I would be against it.
As it stands though, it's still pretty low, but not so low that someone would not be able to at least feed themselves off it.

Your statement "However if you have this minimum wage law then she cannot obtain those skills by first working for R80, so effectively she ends up being poorer for longer." doesn't really make sense to me though.
Whether they are being paid R2/hr or R10/hr, they will be working and gaining experience. However, without a rule forcing you to pay someone a basic decent amount, you could continue to pay them R2 and then R3 and then maybe R4/hr.

The minimum wage is a good benchmark for employers to use so that they understand that if they pay their workers less than so much per hour, their workers are not able to survive.

 

[Type RSA]

This is really sick how little they are paid. It is hard work you know

 

[Nicodeamus]

If there is a minimum wage of say R100 and an employer can only afford R80 then someone who could have qualified for that job at R80 is now kept out of the working force. During that time she could have gotten work experience and qualify for a higher wage after 1-2 years or so. Now she can't do that. So she stays unemployed and stays poor.

 

[AniV]

If there is a minimum wage of say R100 and an employer can only afford R80 then someone who could have qualified for that job at R80 is now kept out of the working force. During that time she could have gotten work experience and qualify for a higher wage after 1-2 years or so. Now she can't do that. So she stays unemployed and stays poor.

Or the Employer simply employs her for R80's worth of hours, instead of R100's worth of hours?

 

[Nicodeamus]

Or the Employer simply employs her for R80's worth of hours, instead of R100's worth of hours?

eventually she won't work for him and she will find another employer or a different job if that isn't worth her effort.

 

[zippy]

At our 2nd last meeting regarding the safety of our residential complex, we identified the domestic workers as a problem! Fortunately almost half the residences are not bothering with a domestic anymore and the tendency is that number will increase even more. If you really want to help the (previously) disadvantaged, give some money/old clothes etc, to your church or charity. Its safer! And you'll help more then one family. And besides - having a domestic is so much like 20th century or should I say "the old South Africa".

Actually if want to help them, give them a decent education and some proper skills.

 

[zizo911]

Actually if want to help them, give them a decent education and some proper skills.

How? Education is expensive...

 

[zippy]

+1

I've less than 2 hours a night to spend with my kids and I would rather do it in a clean house than spend those precious hours cleaning the house. The money we pay our Nanny supports 5 people who otherwise would go hungry each night.

In the UK, hardly anyone has domestics. Its very rare over here. Yet, the parents spend lots of time with their kids. They go to their childrens sports events etc. A lot of my friends who have children spend more time with them then people I knew in SA who always left the kids with the nanny or at same creche of some sort.

And their houses are spotless. Its the same across Europe. Has been for far longer than South Africa has been a republic.

If you gave your domestics a decent education when they where younger, you would have been doing them more favors than having them pick up after you for a crap wage.

 

[Nicodeamus]

In the UK, hardly anyone has domestics. Its very rare over here. Yet, the parents spend lots of time with their kids. They go to their childrens sports events etc. A lot of my friends who have children spend more time with them then people I knew in SA who always left the kids with the nanny or at same creche of some sort.

And their houses are spotless. Its the same across Europe. Has been for far longer than South Africa has been a republic.

If you gave your domestics a decent education when they where younger, you would have been doing them more favors than having them pick up after you for a crap wage.

When I was in school a few people in the neighbourhood who could afford it sent some of their domestic worker's children to school. We only had a domestic in our house who came in for ironing, the gardening and everything else we did ourselves, I never complained about my parents not spending enough time with me.