Bargaining council rules came into effect for the restaurant sector last week. These rules may well kill off the industry, writes Shirly de Villiers for Financial Mail.
Restaurants and fast-food outlets will be required, by law, to add the following monthly costs to their overheads:
- R5 per employee for bargaining council expenses;
- A R3 dispute resolution levy;
- R25 general fee;
- R12.50 funeral benefit;
- Provident fund contribution of 5% of each employee’s wages;
- R17.50 for each employee where workers are required to wash their own uniforms; and
- An annual bonus equivalent to a week’s wages
Employees will have an equivalent amount deducted from their pay for bargaining council expenses, dispute resolution, a funeral benefit and a provident fund contribution.
Alsonew mandatory hourly wages with an increase of 1.5% above inflation from May.
The new regulations are reported to add about 16% to restaurant overheads.
Most of the affected establishments are not parties to this Bargaining Council agreement.
Labour minister Thulas Nxesi extended the agreement of the new bargaining council – for fast food, restaurants, catering & allied trades which registered in 2020 – to the sector as a whole (excluding Gauteng).
Last week hospitality trade association Fedhasa launched an urgent interdict against the regulations.
Fedhasa says that the two employers’ organisations that are party to the agreement each claim just 5,000 members, mostly in Gauteng.
Bargaining agreements only become binding on the broader sector if the parties represent an industry majority as determined by the labour registrar. The sector reportedly employs more than 300,000 workers so this makes no ostensible sense.
Restaurant Association of SA CEO Wendy Alberts told The Citizen: “They can’t issue new regulations in the time of disaster; it’s unfavourable for the industry”.
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