Domestic Workers contribute great value to the national economy by providing supportive services to working people. They make it possible for many people to work outside of their homes and to contribute more productively to national economic development.
I have invited you to this briefing today in order to alert the entire nation to the coming into effect on 01 April—two days from today, the Wage Order on minimum wages and conditions of employment for domestic workers.
The new measures are binding on every domestic worker and every employer of a domestic worker in Namibia and are enforceable under the law. Implementation of the Wage Order will begin a new era in the regulation of the employment of domestic workers in Namibia. These measures have the potential to improve the lives of many of Namibia’s approximately 46,000 domestic workers.
You will recall that the Wage Order appeared in the Government Gazette on 24 December 2014, giving official notice of the new minimum wage and conditions of employment for domestic workers. This is the first time that the Namibian Government has set minimum wages and minimum conditions of employment for a specific sector of employment following an investigation by a tri-partite Wage Commission appointed pursuant to the Labour Act, 2007. “Tri-tripartite” in this sense refers to the fact that Commission was composed of representatives of the State, of trade unions and of employer organisations.
The project was initiated by then Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Honourable Immanuel Ngatjizeko and continued during the tenure of Honourable Doreen Sioka. The Wages Commission, which was chaired by Dr.Libertina Amathila, conducted an investigation throughout Namibia on the wages and conditions of domestic workers, together with economic research, and then recommended certain minimum wages
and minimum conditions of employment to the Minister. Thereafter, Cabinet endorsed the Wage Order that the Minister decided upon.
The Ministry has already embarked upon a one-year public awareness campaign in order to make it known to the employers, domestic workers and the public in general the new minimum wages and minimum conditions of employment.
Full page adverts have been running in several local newspapers, 600,000 question and answer brochures in various languages, and 40,000 standard contracts of employment for domestic workers have been distributed throughout the country. They are now available at labour offices in all 14 regions in the country, at our head office and on the Ministry’s website.
They will also be made available at constituency offices, local authorities and post offices. In addition, information is being broadcast on several different language services of NBC Radio and spots are running on NBC TV.
However there is a possibility that not everyone has been reached with the necessary information as to what is now required of employers and employees in the domestic work sector. I will therefore take this opportunity to summarize the main conditions of employment in the new Wage Order:
1.“Domestic work” means work performed in or for a household and includes, but is not limited to, the work of housekeepers, cooks, nannies, drivers and gardeners;
2. The minimum conditions of employment and the minimum wage shall be applicable to all non-farm domestic workers, including domestic workers placed by private agencies, and farm domestic workers not covered by a collective agreement in the agricultural sector.
3. The minimum wage should be based on domestic work as an industry and not based on the type of work or tasks performed.
4. The age of entry into domestic work shall be the age of 18, subject to exceptions promulgated by the Minister in the Wage Order or by regulation.
5. The provision of items such as food, clothing or any other items may not be a substitute for wage payments. Employees must receive their minimum monetary remuneration in full every month.
6. The employer must provide to non-live-in domestic workers, in addition to their wages, a transport allowance equivalent to round- trip public transport fares, where public transport is available, unless the employer provides transport.
7. If a domestic worker accompanies his or her employer on vacation for the purposes of providing services to the household, this shall be treated as working time.
8. The domestic worker must be provided with appropriate and effective personal protective equipment, free of charge.
9. The minimum standard of accommodation for a live-in domestic worker must be a lockable room with a key provided to the domestic worker, bed and mattress, good ventilation, adequate lighting, access to water, and free electricity and heating provision, if such is the prevailing condition in the home.
10. The employee may be visited by relatives and friends at reasonable intervals or hours in consultation with the home owner.
11. Domestic workers are entitled to be members of a trade union, and access to the employer’s home for various union-related purposes should not be unreasonably denied and should be treated in accordance with Section 65 of the Labour Act, 2007.
12. Every domestic worker must be provided with a standard written employment contract in English, which has been gazetted as part of the Wage Order. The contract should be explained in a language that the employee understands. Both parties must retain signed copies of the contract.
13. The individual wages and terms and conditions of employment shall be agreed upon by the employer and the domestic workers, provided that they shall not be less favourable than those contained in the Wage Order. A Code of Conduct for domestic workers and employers shall be developed by the Ministry and shall be published together with the Wage Order as a Code of Good Practice in terms of Section 137 of the Labour Act, 2007.
The Minimum Wages
The minimum wages for domestic workers are as follows:
1. Effective 01 April 2015:
N$1218 per month for full-time domestic worker
N$281.09 per week
N$56.21 per day per day
N$7.02 per hour
N$ 10.53 per hour overtime
N$14.04 per hour Sunday, holidays
2. Effective 01 April 2016: The minimum wage shall be increased to an amount equivalent to the increase in the consumer price index plus 5%.
3. The minimum wage must be reviewed before the end of the second year.
However, it is important to understand that the minimum wage is not the wage rate that Government thinks that employers should pay to domestic workers. It is only a minimum. This means that the law does not permit employers to pay less than the amount stipulated as the minimum by law. Employers and Employees are encouraged to negotiate higher wages than the minimum wages that reflect the importance and value of domestic work to our families and to the Namibian nation.
An important new facility – an SMS line — has been introduced to enable all interested parties to contact the Ministry for further information and to lodge complaints. The SMS number is 66111.
We will respond to all of your queries. The new SMS line will also help the Ministry to enforce the Wage Order.
Domestic workers who are paid below the prescribed minimum wage coming into effect on 01 April 2015 or are who have experienced a reduction in their salary are urged to visit the Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation regional offices country-wide or to make use of the ministry’s SMS line 66111.