Latest news with #NationalMinimumWageAct
IOL News
a day ago
- IOL News
Ongoing inspections reveal undocumented workers
The Department of Employment and Labour continues its oversight of construction sites in Knysna. Image: Department of Employment and Labour A year after the George building collapse, which claimed the lives of 34 people and left 28 injured, the Department of Employment and Labour continues oversight on construction sites in towns such as Knysna, which saw multiple undocumented foreign nationals taken into custody and the sites closed temporarily. In a statement, the department confirmed that during a multidisciplinary and unannounced inspection held on June 3, they visited the construction and hospitality sector in Knysna, where several undocumented workers were found. 'At one construction site, gross contravention to labour legislation was discovered, which led to the temporary closure of the site,' said the department. 'Multiple undocumented foreign nationals were taken into police custody on site, all thanks to the swift work of the joint venture between the department's Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) unit, the local Knysna police office, as well as Home Affairs' Border Management Authority. 'The blitz inspection forms part of the department's service delivery campaign in Knysna. #Yazini #Delservices #workersrights.' Teboho Thejane, chief communications officer, said as it was a multidisciplinary blitz, they could not comment formally on undocumented persons, when asked how many persons were detained. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading 'As labour migration Act is outside our scope we do not effect arrests, but we look at, Basic Conditions of Employment Act,(BCEA), National Minimum Wage Act, (NWM), Labour Relations Act, ( LRA), Employment Equity Act, (EEA ) and, Occupational Health and Safety Act, (OHSA) just to mention a few," he said. 'Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) nationally does have proactive and reaction inspection in different sectors, inclusive of contraction. Construction is one of the sectors under our radar. Because such blitz inspections include other role players as they are multiciliary when they are arranged and finalised we will inform accordingly.' In January, the Department of Employment and Labour carried out a similar blitz in Camps Bay where 10 illegal immigrants were found working at restaurants, and their employers held accountable, with one arrested. The Department of Home Affairs's David Hlabane did not respond to queries. Just last week, the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, received the final report from the Council for the Built Environment (CBE), through its body Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), surrounding the tragic George building collapse. He said the department will carefully study the report to develop a pathway forward to ensure such a collapse never happens again. Earlier, the George Municipality also confirmed that the final report involving the independent structural investigation of the site, which was commissioned and undertaken by the Engineering Design Services (EDS), has been handed over to the police. Human Settlements Minister, Thembi Simelane, said via a report that the municipality was at fault for approving the apartment block's plan when it was already in the process of construction.
Eyewitness News
13-05-2025
- Eyewitness News
WC women farmworkers call for Labour Dept to enforce laws on commercial farms
CAPE TOWN - Women farmworkers from various parts of the Western Cape are calling on the Department of Employment and Labour to enforce labour laws on commercial farms in the province. They took their grievances to the department's doorsteps on Tuesday in the Cape Town CBD. They're accusing the department of ignoring their complaints of labour rights violations by farm owners. A group of women seasonal farmworkers under the banner of Women on Farms Project are demanding the enforcement of all labour laws, including the National Minimum Wage Act. Handing over a memorandum of grievances on Tuesday afternoon, spokesperson Daniel Samuel said they also wanted the department to issue fines and penalties to non-compliant farms. "We demand a meeting with provincial staff, the inspectorate, heads of labour centres from Worcester, De Doorns, Ceres, Paarl, and Somerset West, including Dr Bax, who is heading the Compensation Fund by no later than 6 June 2025." They're also demanding the fast-tracking of UIF applications, especially those of women seasonal farmworkers.
The Guardian
26-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Arts sector's use of unpaid interns for some roles could be illegal, experts say
Arts employers could be breaking the law by relying on unpaid interns to perform roles that should be left to paid workers, preventing young people from working-class backgrounds from gaining a foothold, experts have said. Institutions are getting away with exploiting carve-outs in employment legislation to keep interns working for free, they said, which stops working-class people from finding paid work in the industry. The claim comes after prominent figures across the arts and culture sector raised the alarm about the lack of working-class talent in their industries. A Guardian survey of the 50 organisations that receive the most Arts Council funding has revealed that 30% of artistic directors and other creative leaders were privately educated, compared with a national average of 7%. British law mandates that interns are entitled to pay if they meet certain criteria, such as dictated hours, days and duties. But the creative industries have become inured to using young people without penalty, according to those working to improve access and development. It is believed employers are relying on internship exemptions in the National Minimum Wage Act intended for people working for free as part of their studies, as a volunteer or in a short-term work experience position. In reality, the responsibilities handed to young people in a highly sought-after but cash-strapped sector has led to interns in effect being handed the roles of employees. One charity founder likened it to 'slave labour', with employers offering a perceived sense of privilege in lieu of cash. 'The creative sector has been using unpaid internships for so long without penalty that it has become an embedded way of doing things,' said the British Film Institute's director of skills and workforce development, Sara Whybrew. 'The law is clear on what makes someone a worker, and therefore when the national minimum wage must apply. But there's anecdotal evidence that some employers aren't fully cognisant of the factors that define worker status.' The Conservative MP and chair of the culture, media and sport committee, Caroline Dinenage, said it was important the government address access challenges in its employment law reforms. She said telling British stories, 'whether in our national museums, public service broadcasters or national portfolio organisations', meant representing the whole country, not just those who could 'afford to make the sacrifices needed to get a foot in the door'. Figures showing that six out of 10 arts and culture workers in the UK come from middle-class backgrounds 'suggest that there is a representation problem in the industry,' Dinenage said. 'Success is not shared equally, with the precariousness that characterises the industry making it particularly difficult for those without financial security behind them to forge a career.' The Sutton Trust, a charity that aims to improve social mobility in the UK, found that 86% of interns in the UK's creative sector were unpaid as of 2018. Progress has been incremental. The trust said in November that the creative industries remained 'elitist'. It recommended strengthening the law on unpaid internships and penalising employers offering them as ways to improve access. A 2023 study into job quality in the sector cited research showing that nearly nine out of 10 workers said they worked for free in some way, and just under half of those under 30 said they had completed an unpaid internship. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has estimated that unpaid internships in London could cost an individual up to £6,300 over a six-month period. Martin Bright, the founder of Creative Society, a youth employment charity, said employers persisted with unpaid internships 'because they can get away with it' given an oversupply of graduates. 'But if an intern does anything that contributes to the bottom line of your company you need to pay them, otherwise it's slave labour,' he said. 'There are certain sectors of the creative industries where this is utterly built into the infrastructure. Galleries and museums are the worst. It's seen as a privilege to have the opportunity to work there.' Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Emma Gross, an employment partner at the law firm Spencer West , said the law on unpaid internships was easy to exploit. 'Common tactics include misclassifying interns as volunteers, offering expenses-only roles while assigning real work responsibilities, or using unpaid internships or training as trial periods for future employment,' she said. The only way to prevent this was to introduce 'clearer legal definitions that distinguish between interns, volunteers and workers', she said, and 'stricter enforcement and penalties for employers who misclassify interns'. Under its 'plan to make work pay', the government has vowed to ban unpaid internships 'except when they are part of an education or training course'. But what is considered an internship, and how any new law might be enforced, is yet to be confirmed. Ruth Millington, an arts consultant and former arts internship officer at the University of Birmingham, recalled doing her own internships at a gallery and a major auction house, and having to sleep on a friend's sofa because she was not being paid. 'It's a two-tier system where you can either afford to do an unpaid internship and have a career in the arts or you can't,' she said. 'The more formal platforms for advertising internships are getting stricter. But they are still particularly rife in smaller commercial galleries, who advertise more informally through word of mouth to family, friends and a network of people who can afford it.' Millington shared a recent job ad for a three-month, unpaid internship at a well-known London commercial gallery that included responsibilities such as 'assisting senior gallery staff with artists' and 'assisting with exhibition and art fairs preparation'. She said: 'The arts is worse than other sectors because there's a wider narrative that you do these jobs because you love them, rather than for the money. Just like Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, who says 'this is a job that a million girls would die for'. But they are just exploiting young people.'
