Pretoria – The national public hearings and site visits hosted by the Department of Labour on the review of the minimum wages and conditions of employment in the hospitality sector will end on Friday.
The hearings are being held because the three-year sectoral determination for the hospitality sector comes to an end on 30 June 2016.
The sectoral determination spells out minimum wages, number of leave days, working hours and termination rules, among other conditions of employment.
The Department of Labour started the national public hearings on 10 February 2016 in Bloemfontein and since then public hearings have been held in all provinces to engage with industry interested stakeholders.
This week, more hearings will be held in Limpopo on 9 March in Thohoyandou at the Muofhe Graceland Lodge 14D, Mphephu Road and on 10 March at Department of Labour offices in Polokwane at 42A Schoeman Street.
The hearings will round off in Gauteng on 10 March in Johannesburg at the City of Johannesburg building on the corner of Harrison and Juta Street, Braamfontein. A hearing will take place on 11 March in Pretoria at the department’s Labour Centre at 239 Concilium Building, on the corner of Nana Sita and Thabo Sehume Streets.
The national public hearings will start at 1pm.
In terms of the minimum wages for employees in the hospitality sector, for the period 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016 for establishments with 10 or less employees the current minimum wage is R2 760.59 monthly, R637.10 weekly and R14.15 hourly.
For those employers with more than 10 employees the minimum wage for the period 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016 is R3 076.98 monthly, R710.12 weekly and R15.77 hourly.
The sectoral determination in the hospitality sector covers any commercial business or part of a commercial business in which employers and workers are associated for the purpose of carrying on or conducting one or more of the following activities for reward in a hotel, motel, inn, resort, game lodge, hostel, guest house, guest farm or bed and breakfast establishment including short stay accommodation, self-catering, timeshares, camps, and caravan parks.
It also includes restaurants, pubs, taverns, cafés, tearooms, coffee shops, fast food outlets, snack bars, industrial or commercial caterers, function caterers, contract caterers and includes all activities or operations incidental to or subsequent on any of the activities mentioned above.
The hospitality sector sectoral determination excludes workers and employers involved in the trade of letting of flats, rooms and/or houses as well as all workers and employers covered by another sectoral determination in terms of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
It further excludes areas that are covered by a statutory council or a bargaining council. – SAnews.gov.za
