Pretoria - The Department of Labour paid a surprise visit to the wholesale and retail sector in Richards Bay ahead of the sectoral determination public hearings taking place in the area today.
Among the things they found on Tuesday were that a minority of wholesale and retail employers were paying their employees less than the stipulated minimum wages. They also found a minority of employers napping at work.
Some employers also used different job categories than that stipulated in the Wholesale and Retail sectoral determination.
Shaun Feldman, the deputy director: employment standards at the department, said over the years they had noticed that employers are not releasing their employees to attend these hearings, hence these visits to obtain inputs from workers.
“The visits are used to give employees the opportunity to give their inputs into the new amendments into the Wholesale and Retail sectoral determination that will be effective from February 2016, said Feldam.
Employees in the area have put up several recommendations.
These include the increase in their salaries by ten percent and that their employers accept medical certificates from clinics as doctors’ consultation fees are high.
They also proposed that the family responsibility leave be increased from three to five days a year.
The wholesale and retail public hearings taking place on Wednesday is to be followed by similar activities in Durban from Thursday until Friday this week. - SAnews.gov.za
