Domestic workers could be a step closer to securing equal rights after the recent formation of the SA Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (Sadsawu).
Sadsawu has become the latest trade union to be registered with the labour registrar in accordance with the country’s labour legislation.
Sadsawu registration earlier this month came days after the SA Taxi Drivers Workers Union became official with the registrar. Both unions are affiliates of labour federation Cosatu, an ANC ally.
Sadsawu is expected to take up the plight of domestic workers, who are among the most exploited employees in the country, as employers either fail or refuse to comply with labour legislation such as the national minimum wage and the Compensation Fund.
Sadsawu general secretary Gloria Kente said the union had about 1,500 paid-up members and would soon be embarking on a national membership recruitment drive. The union was happy it had been registered, she said.
“We are targeting domestic workers, cleaners, old age homes, restaurants, and B&Bs,” Kente said. The union’s registration meant members could now take their employers to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration if they did not comply with the national minimum wage, among other legislation.
About 1.1-million domestic workers were employed in private households in the third quarter of the year, according to the latest data from Stats SA.
Women make up 92% of the domestic workforce, according to the recently released annual report of Sweepsouth, an online platform for domestic cleaning services. The report found that 39% of domestic workers earned less than the national minimum wage.
Sweepsouth’s “Domestic Worker Pay and Working Conditions Report 2025″, based on responses from 5,039 domestic workers nationwide, shows that one in three of the 839,000 domestic workers in SA still earn below the minimum wage of R28.79 per hour as living costs shoot through the roof.
The median domestic work earnings, according to the report, are R3,635, nearly R900 short of the R4,500 needed for basic monthly expenses.
It noted that 82% of domestic workers earning below the national minimum wage are the main breadwinners in households with an average of four dependents.
The report says 33% of domestic workers are in debt and 16% have reported a decline in mental health.
Cosatu spokesperson Zanele Sabela noted that social protection in the form of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and the Compensation Fund was extended to include domestic workers only in 2023.
“It’s not unusual for a domestic worker to have more than one part-time employer at a time. However, if the employer engages the services of the domestic worker for more than 24 hours a month, that employer must register the worker for UIF and the Compensation Fund,” Sabela said.
“Cosatu is heartened by the progress it has made in negotiations at Nedlac [National Economic Development and Labour Council] to ensure that taxi drivers, domestic workers and other vulnerable and atypical workers are covered by our progressive labour laws and insurance funds and able to exercise their hard-won rights, including collective bargaining.”
Sabela said enforcement of the national minimum wage and the compensation fund remained a challenge. “Some employers are not aware they have to comply; some simply refuse to comply and others will go as far as accusing workers who got injured on duty of lying because the employer was not home to witness the incident when it occurred,” she said.
“In addition, domestic workers are difficult to access because they work in private homes; this also presents a challenge when trying to organise them due to restricted access.
“Cosatu will continue to work with Sadsawu to ensure it achieved its mission of ensuring domestic workers’ rights are respected and protected like all other workers.”
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