Build One SA (Bosa) believes young employees are getting a raw deal in the workplace, and is proposing legislation to address the ill-practice.
Bosa leader Mmusi Maimane, MP, deputy leader Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster and member of the Gauteng legislature Ayanda Allie addressed a media briefing on Thursday on the party’s Fair Pay Bill — its first bill — which will be tabled with the National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza immediately.
The bill seeks to amend the Employment Equity Act.
“Every year, thousands of graduates and job seekers enter a labour market that often operates in an unfair manner against them,” Hlazo-Webster said in motivating the bill.
She said the bill sought to outlaw the mechanisms that entrenched wage disparities and tilted the hiring process against the vulnerable.
In terms of the bill, employers would no longer be allowed to ask job applicants for past payslips to determine the salary to be paid. Hlazo-Webster said this was a common practice and was one of the main drivers of ongoing wage inequality. It perpetuated historical inequalities. The salary must be based on the nature of the work.
Employers would also be obliged to disclose the salary or salary range for the job in their job advertisements. This would promote transparency, Maimane said.
“This means no more guessing games, and no more undervaluing yourself or lowballing just to land a job. Job seekers will know what the job is worth before they apply. This will level the playing field for all and give power back to the jobseeker,” Hlazo-Webster said.
The bill would also grant employees the right to discuss a job offer or the remuneration, or remuneration range, for a position with another employee to assess whether they are being treated fairly without being threatened with litigation.
Hlazo-Webster noted that despite being qualified, capable and willing to work, young people in particular became trapped in cycles of underpayment, with little power to negotiate fair wages or challenge opaque hiring practices. The odds were stacked in favour of the employer, who held all the power in determining salary, often based on a candidate’s previous pay, or on lower pay than the individual is entitled to.
“This is not a competence issue; rather it is due to the system allows employers to exploit previous underpayment and first-time job application. When your salary history is used against you, past disadvantage becomes future injustice.
“The bill strengthens existing anti-discrimination provisions, mandating that pay must be based on merit and not your race, gender, age or where you come from. Skills, qualifications and experience are rightly the central determining factors."
Parliament’s legal advisers will have to clear the bill, after which it will be gazetted for public comment and then considered by parliament’s committee on employment and labour.
Hlazo-Webster said that to gain public support for the bill, Bosa would roll out a Fair Pay Campaign across the country in the weeks ahead. It would also launch an online nationwide petition and hold dialogues with young professionals.
“The Fair Pay Bill is not just about wages. It’s about restoring dignity, promoting economic justice and building a country where no-one is punished for where they come from or how little they earned before,” Maimane said.
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