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Yoliswa Dube Features Reporter
WORKERS’ Day, marked on May 1 each year, traces its origins to efforts to improve the working condition and rights of all workers.
But don’t tell Chele Sibanda about workers’ rights.Her employer was a slave driver. She would only sleep when the boss went to bed. She was hard at work all day and come  sunset, when the “madam” came home from work; sat in the kitchen and waited for instructions.

The housemaid played waiter, chef, dishwasher, baby sitter and washing machine all in a day’s work. She was not entitled to sick or compassionate leave; she barely had any days off.

Only when her employer decided then did Sibanda have time to rest. She recalls how she worked like a slave and was expected to work harder with each passing day.

“I’d wake up early in the morning, around 5AM, to prepare the children for school. My day began with heating bathing water, preparing porridge, bathing the children and packing their lunch. After they’d left, I’d need to clean the house and do the laundry. Later in the day, I’d prepare supper and then wait for everybody to finish eating before I could do the dishes. But I couldn’t just go to bed before my employer slept, in case more instructions were to follow,” says Sibanda.

She thought getting married would solve many of her financial problems. Because she was not getting much money for her hard work, Sibanda fell in love, hoping to heave a sigh of relief from the financial aspect the relationship would bring.

The big blow came after she fell pregnant. Her employer sent her packing after discovering there was a bun in the oven — no such thing as maternity leave.

“I’m originally from Binga where employment opportunities are slim. I couldn’t watch as my family wallowed in poverty so I decided to come to Bulawayo to look for a job. But after getting the job, a few months down the line, I couldn’t keep up anymore,” she says regrettably.

Now, with a two-month-old baby, Sibanda can only work weekends and earns $10 per day. If she works two days in a row, it amounts to $20 per week and  $80 per month.

But this is only a drop in the ocean, she has a growing baby to feed and clothe; she has rentals, water and electricity to pay — all with $80.
Sibanda fell in love and married Philip, a domestic worker who also has to endure long working hours and unfair labour practices.
Philip is permanently employed but supplements his salary with the extra work he does on Sundays.

He relies on neighbours to provide him with odd-jobs and gets a monthly average of $200 per month.

“I met my wife when she was still working in Nkulumane (suburb). She knew the kind of work I did but we were both determined to make it in life. I’m also Tonga and we understood each other well. The only problem is the nature of our work. Not many people know how to treat domestic workers well. They don’t treat us as equal human beings,” said Philip.

He said he was not provided with any protective clothing neither did he expect it.

“People just want their yards to look nice. They really don’t care about the person working to do it. They just want to see results,” said Philip.

Philip and Chele say in unison: “Some employers are just unfair!”

While employment as a domestic worker is an honest living and one of the only options for many, working in this capacity comes with many challenges, including long working hours, poor working and living conditions, low remuneration, verbal abuse and unfair dismissal.

Many things go on behind closed doors with female domestic workers being particularly vulnerable, sometimes experiencing sexual abuse from men in the households they work for.

There are scores of cases of female domestic workers falling pregnant to fathers and sons in the families they work for, which they end up getting dismissed for.

In terms of the Labour Relations (Domestic Workers) Employment Regulations, a domestic worker is a person employed in any private household to render services as a yard or garden worker, cook or housekeeper, child minder or disabled or aged (person) minder, irrespective of whether or not the place of employment is in an urban or rural area.

On engaging a domestic worker, the employer is required to inform the domestic worker in writing of the nature of her or his contract including grade, rate of pay and when it will be paid, free use of water for normal domestic use, period of notice required to terminate the contract of employment, hours of work, details of any bonus, accommodation, transport and lights allowances, sickness benefits and vacation leave.

One employer, Nomsa Dube said  it was difficult to meet the needs of  domestic workers owing to the unfriendly economic environment prevailing in the country.

“Things are tough for everyone and it’s really hard to keep up with labour laws and such things. If my maid feels she needs a pay rise, she is free to look for employment elsewhere because there’re many people looking for work,” said Dube.

“My housemaid doesn’t have to pay for water and electricity and they eat food from my kitchen, I think it’s quite a fair deal.”

The government set wages for domestic workers between $85 and $100 per month.

A gardener should get $85 per month or a weekly wage of $19,60, while a cook or housekeeper is entitled to $90 per month or $20,79 per week.

Domestic workers looking after the disabled had their wages pegged at $95 per month or $21,94 per week.

Some domestic workers with Red Cross certificates or similar qualifications who take care of the disabled and the aged are paid $100 or $23,10 per week.

The move by the government is in line with the call by the International Labour Organisation for member-states to effectively implement a historic convention, which seeks to improve the working conditions of millions of domestic workers worldwide.

Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers was adopted at the International Labour Organisation 100th session in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Zimbabwe Domestic and Allied Workers Union (ZDAWU) is the representative organisation for domestic workers but not all domestic workers are aware of its existence.

An official from the organisation said most domestic workers receive salaries way below the legally mandated wage and ZDAWU has started educational workshops to train domestic workers on their rights to ensure that they are not exploited.

ZDAWU also assists domestic workers who have legal problems.

Worker’s Day is a national public  holiday in many countries and is celebrated on May 1.

It has its origins within the historical struggles of workers and their trade unions internationally for solidarity between working people in their struggles to win fair employment standards and more importantly, to establish a culture of human and worker rights and to ensure that these are enshrined in international law and the national law of countries aligned to the International Labour Organisation.