Cashiers, waiters need our protection, says Makhubele’s SA Rainbow Alliance

The South Africa Rainbow Alliance’s Colleen Makhubele says her political party will highlight the needs of the marginalised hospitality and service industry workers and cater to them. 

Should Makhubele win big at the upcoming polls, cashiers, guards, waiters, receptionists and cleaners will become one of the Rainbow Alliance’s core policy areas.

“SARA will look after all the informal workers and their families. SARA is concerned about the regulation and distribution of profits and employee benefits in the second economy. This emerging, vibrant informal economy is forever expanding and has become a key engine of our economy,” Makhubele said. 

“The majority of our young black females and males who are employed by hotels, restaurants, retailers of food, clothing and general merchandise, supermarkets, taxi owners including the temporary workers in the informal sectors must be taken care of.”

One of her party’s non-negotiables are that waiters and waitresses must get their full tips, untaxed and paid immediately to them. In addition, the party demands that all the informal and service industry workers be paid market-related salaries, benefits, pension fund, housing subsidies and medical aid or insurance.

“Almost 40% of the jobs created in the country are from this sector. It is the biggest job creator - from restaurants, gas stations and the informal service industry. The more we talk to them, they complain about the mistreatment in their industry, especially black women. They cry about no one looking after them and no one talking about their woes,” Makhubele said. 

“Regarding waiters, we will fight for them to receive their full tips because that is what boosts their pay. Whether we call on people to pay them cash or tell the restaurant and hotel owners not to tax their tips - it supplements their salaries and they also use it for transport.”

The party has called  for businesses that operate after normal business or working hours to provide compulsory safe transportation of their workers to and from work.

They have also called for the companies to ensure that the hospitality and service industry workers or those who work directly with people be given training to be courteous and friendly.  

This includes cashiers, receptionists, help desk, cleaners, call centre agents and many other related job fields. 

“Some of them complain about safety and going home at the end of the shift - few owners provide transport, especially for women going to townships. This then means they must get themselves Ubers or organise taxis, travel in groups - even when they get dropped off, it’s at a central point and not directly at their homes, which compromises their safety,” said Makhubele.

SARA highlighted the mistreatment in the industry, due to the lack of labour law protection, among others.

“Some of them even complain about leave and how it is regulated - if they are not at work they don’ get paid. If they get pregnant there is no protection for them. The service industry must be regulated and we must put in policies to safeguard them, especially women in those industries, protect their pay, their tips, their leave and benefits. Some of them have been working for over 10 and 15 years - if they get fired there is no protection, nothing has been put aside for them, that’s it.

“Government has not been paying attention to this industry, so we would like to really assist them and ensure that this informal service sector receives some kind of policy that protects them. Most of them are not allowed to unionise and organise themselves - if they do, they just get fired. Even some of the labour laws do not protect them, unlike other industries which have formal labour unions which fight for their rights. It is easy to fire them and they are easily replaceable by foreigners.”

According to Makhubele, some of the implementation methods of their proposed policy will require South Africans to swallow a hard pill.

“Our people at the tills and cashiers need protection. One thing that we are going to do, which might be painful for our South Africans, as the most impacted, is striking a balance between minimum wage for those businesses who can afford it and those who don’t. Your big shops like the Tashas of this world who can afford it must be made to pay it and even more - but they cannot be compared to a ‘Colleen’s restaurant’ somewhere in a corner which can only hire two or three people and pay them R2,500 or R2,000.

“We need to strike a balance and agree and acknowledge that if an individual is going to work for this local shop they must be willing to earn less, otherwise a foreigner will be hired in their place. At the end of the day these are the people that get the job done. Most of the jobs that South Africans are not willing to do for a certain amount of money, they are the ones who get things done in their absence.”

The presidential hopeful said there’s a mental shift that must happen even in “our own people” around what they can expect from an employer because it cannot be the same.

“We must relax the minimum wage requirement for those businesses which cannot afford it. When you talk to these shop and restaurant owners they say they want to hire South Africans but they can’t afford the minimum wage at the moment. Whether they are starting their businesses or business is not good and they cannot meet that R3,500 threshold, they resort to hiring [a] foreign national who is willing to take R2,000 or less.  

“I think we have to accept a reality and adopt a mindset that if you are not hired by a big food chain, don’t expect the minimum wage, but at least you’ll get a job that can help you get your necessities done and put your children at school.  If you work for South African Breweries and then you work for a tavern, the standard and comparison cannot be the same in terms of what is earned.”

The party is expected to host its inaugural policy conference at the end of January.

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