BusinessLive reports that domestic workers have called on the government to declare them contributors to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) so that they can access the Covid-19 relief benefits that the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) is disbursing.  

In March, DEL Minister Thulas Nxesi established the Covid-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief scheme (Ters), administered by the UIF, to provide relief to those in formal employment expected to lose their income due to the coronavirus lockdown.  The Socio-Economic Rights Institute of SA (Seri), on behalf of the SA Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (Sadsawu), announced on Tuesday that it had made recommendations to Nxesi, the UIF and the National Coronavirus Command Council, “seeking a declaration of domestic workers as UIF contributors” so as to afford them access to income protection during the national state of disaster.  Seri said the Covid-19 pandemic had had a “devastating impact” on domestic workers and that a mere 20% of them were registered for UIF, meaning that the majority of domestic workers could not access Ters because their employers had not fulfilled their legal obligation to register them.  Seri recommended that Nxesi and the UIF board declare domestic workers UIF contributors and that the DEL “create a mechanism for domestic workers to access Ters directly from the department, as individuals, or collectively through their unions”.  Nxesi’s spokesperson advised that they had received Seri’s letter and that the matter was receiving the attention of the National Economic and Labour Council (Nedlac), which would advise the minister on the request.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive

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