<--- Back to contents Chapter 8 - Labour LawSectoral determinationsA sectoral determination controls the terms and conditions of employment for workers in that particular sector. It may set minimum wages in sectors, regulate payment in kind, regulate pension and medical aid schemes, prohibit or regulate piece work, set minimum standards for housing for workers who live on the employer's premises, and so on. See General summary of a wage regulating measure Sectoral determinations will be set in sectors where there is no centralised collective bargaining, and which require detailed and specific regulations (e.g. the agricultural sector). Sectoral determinations may have different conditions to those in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA). The conditions in the sectoral determinations will override the conditions in the BCEA.
How are sectoral determinations made?
The 1957 Wage Act allows for the establishment of Wage Boards. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) provides for the establishment of an Employment Conditions Commission. (Employment Conditions Commission may replace Wage Boards over time.) The Wage Board or Employment Conditions Commission investigates conditions in a particular industry or sector. The Wage Board holds meetings in each main area in South Africa. The dates and times for the meetings are advertised in the Government Gazette. Anyone who is interested in the particular industry - for example companies, workers, unions - can attend these meetings and have a say in front of the Board. When the Wage Board or Employment Conditions Commission has heard all the information, it makes recommendations to the Minister of Labour. Once the Minister approves the recommendations, they are published in the Government Gazette as a Wage Determination or sectoral determination. Every now and then the determination is amended. This means the government changes the wages or conditions of work.
Enforcement of a sectoral determination
If you are helping a worker who is covered by a sectoral determination or Wage Determination, then you refer the problem to the Department of Labour if you have tried and cannot solve the problem with the employer on your own. It is the Department of Labour's job to make sure that all employers and workers obey the conditions of employment laid out in sectoral determinations and Wage Determinations. See PROBLEM 3: Worker is paid below the minimum wage
Settling disputes under a sectoral determination
It is also the Department of Labour's job to help with the settling of disputes.
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