YOU report that the Department of Labour is planning to take about 1,400 firms to the Labour Court because they are not complying with the provisions of the Labour Equity Act (Labour officials to crack down on job equity failures, 24 July).
Another area the department might want to look at is that of the taxi industry. Ten years ago, in 2005, the department published in terms of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act its Sectoral Determination No.11: the Taxi Sector.
This provides for a range of benefits for taxi industry employees — most of them taxi drivers.
The employer (the taxi owner) is required to provide written conditions and particulars of employment. The determination includes benefits such as various types of leave (annual, sick and family responsibility).
But there are also two sets of provisions that affect the standards of operation directly, including safety.
Maximum hours of work are prescribed, along with minimum periods of rest.
The taxi driver must, for example, not work for more than 10 hours a day, and must then have a rest period of at least 12 consecutive hours. This is clearly important for reducing fatigue, which may lead to crashes.
Even more significant, perhaps, is that the taxi owner must pay the driver at least the minimum wage prescribed in the determination, and must do so on the normal payday agreed to in writing. The driver must not be wholly dependent for his or her income on fare takings — if this were to be the case, a driver might be tempted to (literally) cut corners and engage in unsafe driving practices.
It is reasonable to say that, whatever the good intentions of the determination, it is almost completely ignored in practice. The norm is that taxi drivers collect cash from commuters, and at the end of the day hand over to the owner the amount agreed between them. The driver keeps the rest.
The result, as other road users will readily testify, is that many taxi drivers operate with only nominal regard for the rules of the road in order to make as much money as they can.
The determination has been in force for a decade. It would be interesting to hear from the Department of Labour whether its enthusiasm for enforcing labour laws might also extend to this area.
Paul Browning
Transport analyst
Post a comment