News / National
Gwisai criticises govt for lack of minimum wage for domestic workers
30 Aug 2011 at 05:58hrs | Views
Zimbabwe government's failure to stipulate domestic workers' minimum wages since the introduction of multiple currencies in 2009 has left them vulnerable to exploitation by some employers, The Herald reported.
Some employers are paying their workers unreasonable wages as little as US$20 per month.
Most domestic workers earn between US$35 and US$60 per month.
According to labour regulations, the Ministry of Labour is expected to gazette the minimum wage for domestic workers yearly.
Almost every household has a domestic worker be it in the low, medium and high-density suburbs.
Domestic workers are also found in rural areas.
A survey by The Herald showed that employers were paying their workers as they wish owing to the absence of gazetted figures.
Since domestic work does not have a national employment council, the law empowers the Minister of Labour and Social Service to set up a Wages and Salaries Advisory Board to negotiate with the Domestic and Allied Workers' Union and then recommend the figures to the Government.
Labour lawyer and University of Zimbabwe Law lecturer Mr Munyaradzi Gwisai criticised the ministry for failing to come up with the minimum wage for domestic workers.
"The wages of the domestic workers are deplorable and are inconsistent with the right to a decent life.
"It has been difficult for the individual maids and organisations to push for decent wages, so the Government was supposed to ensure the setting of new and reasonable wages.
"In terms of Section 20 of the Labour Act, Government is supposed to review wages for such workers. Government has not issued the minimum wage regulation since the Zimbabwe dollar era. It has not done so for the past three years.
"Government must act responsibly and issue a minimum wage notice including allowances for accommodation, transport, lights, water and fuel.
"Government is actually committing a grievous crime against domestic workers by failing to issue that notice," he said.
Another labour lawyer, Mr Joel Mambara, said the situation was making it difficult for them to apply for upward review of wages.
"When you try to make an application for upward review of wages, the question that kills the case is whether there is a gazetted minimum wage.
"If you think that the wage of US$20 is too low, you are asked to provide the court or tribunal with a standard and approved wage.
"In actual fact, domestic workers have no rights in Zimbabwe," said Mr Mambara.
Mr Rogers Matsikidze bemoaned the ill-treatment of workers.
"The Government should quickly intervene to emancipate the oppressed domestic workers. At the moment, there is no wage or salary guide and the maids are getting peanuts," said Mr Matsikidze, who is also a labour law expert.
Labour and Social Services Minister Paurina Mpariwa last week said Government would soon table the Domestic Workers Convention in Parliament, which was adopted at a conference in Geneva in June.
The convention, according to the minister, if ratified by Zimbabwe would soon see an end to the suffering and abuse of domestic workers.
OVERNMENT'S failure to stipulate dome-stic workers' minimum wages since the introduction of multiple currencies in 2009 has left them vulnerable to exploitation by some employers, labour experts have said.
Some employers are paying their workers unreasonable wages as little as US$20 per month.
Most domestic workers earn between US$35 and US$60 per month.
According to labour regulations, the Ministry of Labour is expected to gazette the minimum wage for domestic workers yearly.
Almost every household has a domestic worker be it in the low, medium and high-density suburbs.
Domestic workers are also found in rural areas.
A survey by The Herald showed that employers were paying their workers as they wish owing to the absence of gazetted figures.
Since domestic work does not have a national employment council, the law empowers the Minister of Labour and Social Service to set up a Wages and Salaries Advisory Board to negotiate with the Domestic and Allied Workers' Union and then recommend the figures to the Government.
Labour lawyer and University of Zimbabwe Law lecturer Mr Munyaradzi Gwisai criticised the ministry for failing to come up with the minimum wage for domestic workers.
"The wages of the domestic workers are deplorable and are inconsistent with the right to a decent life.
"It has been difficult for the individual maids and organisations to push for decent wages, so the Government was supposed to ensure the setting of new and reasonable wages.
"In terms of Section 20 of the Labour Act, Government is supposed to review wages for such workers. Government has not issued the minimum wage regulation since the Zimbabwe dollar era. It has not done so for the past three years.
"Government must act responsibly and issue a minimum wage notice including allowances for accommodation, transport, lights, water and fuel.
"Government is actually committing a grievous crime against domestic workers by failing to issue that notice," he said.
Another labour lawyer, Mr Joel Mambara, said the situation was making it difficult for them to apply for upward review of wages.
"When you try to make an application for upward review of wages, the question that kills the case is whether there is a gazetted minimum wage.
"If you think that the wage of US$20 is too low, you are asked to provide the court or tribunal with a standard and approved wage.
"In actual fact, domestic workers have no rights in Zimbabwe," said Mr Mambara.
Mr Rogers Matsikidze bemoaned the ill-treatment of workers.
"The Government should quickly intervene to emancipate the oppressed domestic workers. At the moment, there is no wage or salary guide and the maids are getting peanuts," said Mr Matsikidze, who is also a labour law expert.
Labour and Social Services Minister Paurina Mpariwa last week said Government would soon table the Domestic Workers Convention in Parliament, which was adopted at a conference in Geneva in June.
The convention, according to the minister, if ratified by Zimbabwe would soon see an end to the suffering and abuse of domestic workers.
"We are yet to table the Domestic Workers' Convention adopted in Geneva at a conference held in June. That one is set to settle all the issues affecting domestic workers so that their job is regularised for them to be treated like other workers," said Minister Mpariwa.
Secretary for Labour Mr Lancaster Museka acknowledged the delay.
He, however, said the ministry had set up a wages and salaries advisory board comprising representatives of the workers, employers and the Government to negotiate the minimum wage.
The board, Mr Museka said, had since recommended some figures although he could not disclose them.
Domestic and Allied Workers' Union secretary-general Mr Helarious Ruyi confirmed the development although he complained that the process was taking too long.
He said the board that comprised his union, the Government and the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe, in May this year, recommended a US$80 minimum wage for domestic workers staying with the employer and US$200 for those who do not live at their employer's premises.
"We had proposed higher figures as wages, but after sitting with the Government and Emcoz, we recommended a minimum wage of US$80 per month.
"Those who stay on their own would get US$50 more as housing allowance, US$10 for electricity and water and US$2 per day for transport," he said.
Some employers are paying their workers unreasonable wages as little as US$20 per month.
Most domestic workers earn between US$35 and US$60 per month.
According to labour regulations, the Ministry of Labour is expected to gazette the minimum wage for domestic workers yearly.
Almost every household has a domestic worker be it in the low, medium and high-density suburbs.
Domestic workers are also found in rural areas.
A survey by The Herald showed that employers were paying their workers as they wish owing to the absence of gazetted figures.
Since domestic work does not have a national employment council, the law empowers the Minister of Labour and Social Service to set up a Wages and Salaries Advisory Board to negotiate with the Domestic and Allied Workers' Union and then recommend the figures to the Government.
Labour lawyer and University of Zimbabwe Law lecturer Mr Munyaradzi Gwisai criticised the ministry for failing to come up with the minimum wage for domestic workers.
"The wages of the domestic workers are deplorable and are inconsistent with the right to a decent life.
"It has been difficult for the individual maids and organisations to push for decent wages, so the Government was supposed to ensure the setting of new and reasonable wages.
"In terms of Section 20 of the Labour Act, Government is supposed to review wages for such workers. Government has not issued the minimum wage regulation since the Zimbabwe dollar era. It has not done so for the past three years.
"Government must act responsibly and issue a minimum wage notice including allowances for accommodation, transport, lights, water and fuel.
"Government is actually committing a grievous crime against domestic workers by failing to issue that notice," he said.
Another labour lawyer, Mr Joel Mambara, said the situation was making it difficult for them to apply for upward review of wages.
"When you try to make an application for upward review of wages, the question that kills the case is whether there is a gazetted minimum wage.
"If you think that the wage of US$20 is too low, you are asked to provide the court or tribunal with a standard and approved wage.
"In actual fact, domestic workers have no rights in Zimbabwe," said Mr Mambara.
Mr Rogers Matsikidze bemoaned the ill-treatment of workers.
"The Government should quickly intervene to emancipate the oppressed domestic workers. At the moment, there is no wage or salary guide and the maids are getting peanuts," said Mr Matsikidze, who is also a labour law expert.
Labour and Social Services Minister Paurina Mpariwa last week said Government would soon table the Domestic Workers Convention in Parliament, which was adopted at a conference in Geneva in June.
The convention, according to the minister, if ratified by Zimbabwe would soon see an end to the suffering and abuse of domestic workers.
OVERNMENT'S failure to stipulate dome-stic workers' minimum wages since the introduction of multiple currencies in 2009 has left them vulnerable to exploitation by some employers, labour experts have said.
Some employers are paying their workers unreasonable wages as little as US$20 per month.
Most domestic workers earn between US$35 and US$60 per month.
According to labour regulations, the Ministry of Labour is expected to gazette the minimum wage for domestic workers yearly.
Domestic workers are also found in rural areas.
A survey by The Herald showed that employers were paying their workers as they wish owing to the absence of gazetted figures.
Since domestic work does not have a national employment council, the law empowers the Minister of Labour and Social Service to set up a Wages and Salaries Advisory Board to negotiate with the Domestic and Allied Workers' Union and then recommend the figures to the Government.
Labour lawyer and University of Zimbabwe Law lecturer Mr Munyaradzi Gwisai criticised the ministry for failing to come up with the minimum wage for domestic workers.
"The wages of the domestic workers are deplorable and are inconsistent with the right to a decent life.
"It has been difficult for the individual maids and organisations to push for decent wages, so the Government was supposed to ensure the setting of new and reasonable wages.
"In terms of Section 20 of the Labour Act, Government is supposed to review wages for such workers. Government has not issued the minimum wage regulation since the Zimbabwe dollar era. It has not done so for the past three years.
"Government must act responsibly and issue a minimum wage notice including allowances for accommodation, transport, lights, water and fuel.
"Government is actually committing a grievous crime against domestic workers by failing to issue that notice," he said.
Another labour lawyer, Mr Joel Mambara, said the situation was making it difficult for them to apply for upward review of wages.
"When you try to make an application for upward review of wages, the question that kills the case is whether there is a gazetted minimum wage.
"If you think that the wage of US$20 is too low, you are asked to provide the court or tribunal with a standard and approved wage.
"In actual fact, domestic workers have no rights in Zimbabwe," said Mr Mambara.
Mr Rogers Matsikidze bemoaned the ill-treatment of workers.
"The Government should quickly intervene to emancipate the oppressed domestic workers. At the moment, there is no wage or salary guide and the maids are getting peanuts," said Mr Matsikidze, who is also a labour law expert.
Labour and Social Services Minister Paurina Mpariwa last week said Government would soon table the Domestic Workers Convention in Parliament, which was adopted at a conference in Geneva in June.
The convention, according to the minister, if ratified by Zimbabwe would soon see an end to the suffering and abuse of domestic workers.
"We are yet to table the Domestic Workers' Convention adopted in Geneva at a conference held in June. That one is set to settle all the issues affecting domestic workers so that their job is regularised for them to be treated like other workers," said Minister Mpariwa.
Secretary for Labour Mr Lancaster Museka acknowledged the delay.
He, however, said the ministry had set up a wages and salaries advisory board comprising representatives of the workers, employers and the Government to negotiate the minimum wage.
The board, Mr Museka said, had since recommended some figures although he could not disclose them.
Domestic and Allied Workers' Union secretary-general Mr Helarious Ruyi confirmed the development although he complained that the process was taking too long.
He said the board that comprised his union, the Government and the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe, in May this year, recommended a US$80 minimum wage for domestic workers staying with the employer and US$200 for those who do not live at their employer's premises.
"We had proposed higher figures as wages, but after sitting with the Government and Emcoz, we recommended a minimum wage of US$80 per month.
"Those who stay on their own would get US$50 more as housing allowance, US$10 for electricity and water and US$2 per day for transport," he said.
Source - TH
