The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes the Fair Pay Bill (Private Member’s Bill) as a long overdue and progressive legislative intervention to address the still prevalent apartheid wage gap in the private sector, to protect workers from unfair pay discrimination and to affirm their rights to wage transparency.

The Bill provides three bold measures to help nudge the corporate sector to aspire to better standards and embrace the intended spirit of our labour laws, namely:

• Prohibiting employers from requesting employees to disclose their previous salaries.  This is important to avoid the perpetuation of previous unfair salary discrimination and thus condemning thousands of African, Coloured, Indian, women and persons with disabilities to low salaries.
• Requiring employers to disclose the salary ranges when advertising positions.  This will help empower workers when negotiating their conditions of employment.
• Respecting the right of employees to discuss their salaries with their colleagues.  Many private sector employers specifically prohibit such discussions amongst workers, in direct violation of the constitutional right to freedom of speech and collective bargaining.

The Federation supports the common sense and important provisions proposed by the Bill.  They will, if enacted into law, be an important tool for unions and workers in the struggle for equal pay for equal work, against unfair discrimination and in defense of collective bargaining.

We look forward to engaging on and helping this bold Bill to navigate its way through Nedlac and Parliament, and if passed, to Presidential assent.  South Africa remains the world’s most unequal society 31 years into democracy.  It is precisely for this reason that such interventions are necessary to improve the wages of workers and respect their demands for a living wage, to affirm and enrich our progressive labour laws, and to drag obstinate employers into the 21st century.

Issued by COSATU

Matthew Parks (COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator)

Mobile: 082 785 0687

Email: matthew@cosatu.org.za