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100 signatures reached
To: Department of Social Development and Department of Basic Education
Tell DSD and DBE to pay school food handlers their R3050 minimum wage
*Campaign update: Food handlers have received an increase of only R100 so far.
I work for a school in the Gauteng region and I am a volunteer food handler. I cook for approximately 450 children. We peel vegetables, cut out big bags of cabbages, dish up and wash the dishes and big pots. This is a contract job we get hired into because our children are also enrolled in the same schools. The problem is that we are paid too little.
The R2100 that the Department of Education pays us is not aligned with the National Minimum Wage rates of R25,47 to R27,50 per hour. We work from 6, 7 and sometimes 8 hours depending on what is being cooked and how long we wait for samp pots to soften up so we can wash them and leave because we are only supposed to leave after all the pots have been washed.
Our typical day begins at 6:30 and we knock off either at 1 pm or 12:30. These are 6 to 7 hours of work and yet we are not paid according to the legal standard of the country. We work very hard to ensure that we cook good meals for the learners and clean up the school kitchen and yet we are not respected. We are treated like the lowest of the low in these schools. We are often paid late. Every other staff member at the school will receive their payment on time except for us. We are paid very late in the evening on the 30th or even on the first. Our income is discussed in meetings openly without respecting our privacy with groups that do not have anything to do with our income.
The school management does not communicate with us properly. We are not told in advance when kids will be released early from school. You will find that we will still be cooking certain pots and then we get told to forget about that pot and dish up whatever is ready for the kids because there is an early lunch that we were never told about. Even the learners and the teacher assistants pick up on this attitude and end up not respecting us because of the way in which we are treated. It is as if we are not like other workers at the schools.
We found out from food handlers in other townships that there are workshops on safety, health and first aid that we are not sent to when colleagues in other townships are sent to these workshops. This treatment needs to stop as we are serious about our work and provide an important service to the schools.
I work for a school in the Gauteng region and I am a volunteer food handler. I cook for approximately 450 children. We peel vegetables, cut out big bags of cabbages, dish up and wash the dishes and big pots. This is a contract job we get hired into because our children are also enrolled in the same schools. The problem is that we are paid too little.
The R2100 that the Department of Education pays us is not aligned with the National Minimum Wage rates of R25,47 to R27,50 per hour. We work from 6, 7 and sometimes 8 hours depending on what is being cooked and how long we wait for samp pots to soften up so we can wash them and leave because we are only supposed to leave after all the pots have been washed.
Our typical day begins at 6:30 and we knock off either at 1 pm or 12:30. These are 6 to 7 hours of work and yet we are not paid according to the legal standard of the country. We work very hard to ensure that we cook good meals for the learners and clean up the school kitchen and yet we are not respected. We are treated like the lowest of the low in these schools. We are often paid late. Every other staff member at the school will receive their payment on time except for us. We are paid very late in the evening on the 30th or even on the first. Our income is discussed in meetings openly without respecting our privacy with groups that do not have anything to do with our income.
The school management does not communicate with us properly. We are not told in advance when kids will be released early from school. You will find that we will still be cooking certain pots and then we get told to forget about that pot and dish up whatever is ready for the kids because there is an early lunch that we were never told about. Even the learners and the teacher assistants pick up on this attitude and end up not respecting us because of the way in which we are treated. It is as if we are not like other workers at the schools.
We found out from food handlers in other townships that there are workshops on safety, health and first aid that we are not sent to when colleagues in other townships are sent to these workshops. This treatment needs to stop as we are serious about our work and provide an important service to the schools.
Why is this important?
It is not right that the Department pays us below what the country's National Minimum Wage is. This is exploitative and impacts on us very negatively as we also have groceries and home expenses to pay for ourselves and our families. The service we provide is very important and our role as workers should be acknowledged and we should be given the respect we deserve like all the other staff members at the school.
The Labour Research Service (LRS) put together this video to show the struggles food handlers are faced with. Watch here it here: https://youtu.be/PBtWU-lVSdk?t=51
The Labour Research Service (LRS) put together this video to show the struggles food handlers are faced with. Watch here it here: https://youtu.be/PBtWU-lVSdk?t=51