Underpaid, often exploited: Union urges Treasury to establish pension fund for domestic workers

The Progressive Domestic Workers Union of South Africa (Prodwusa) has called on the National Treasury to consider establishing a pension fund for domestic workers.

In an interview with the SABC, Prodwusa's Secretary-General, Thato Maleka, explained that the union is proposing a new model to ensure domestic workers receive a pension.

However, he clarified that the model is still in development and that further consultations with various stakeholders are necessary to determine which of the proposed models will be most effective.

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"Our proposed model is that we mimic something like the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) where the employer will contribute, the worker will contribute and then we have the government coming in to match those contributions," Maleka said.

According to the latest report from Statistics South Africa, based on data from the Q3: 2024 Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), "approximately 1.1 million South Africans are employed in private households, with 75.7% (or 854,000) working as domestic workers."

Despite playing an essential role in many households across the country, domestic workers often lack pension funds, unlike other professions. They remain vulnerable to exploitation and underpayment.

In the past, unions have also criticised employers for failing to register domestic workers with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).

Maleka also called for stricter enforcement of labour laws and proposed that the South African Revenue Service (SARS) offer incentives to employers who comply with these regulations.

"We need stricter implementation of these labour laws and also if we can have SARS to come on board and give incentives or a deduction. I think those or one of them will ensure that the employer is compliant," Maleka said.

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