Workers' Day: BOSA calls for workplace transparency and fair pay

Build One South Africa (BOSA) says Workers' Day signals a good time for transparency in the workplace and to do away with unfair labour practices and the underpayment of workers.

The party has called on the public to support its Fair Pay Bill, which will abolish the practice of employers requesting past pay slips from potential candidates. 

The party said that when salary history is used as a benchmark, "Past injustice becomes future injustice". 

Bosa deputy leader Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster said the publishing of the Fair Pay Bill for public comment marks the start of a national conversation about fairness in the workplace. 

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Hlazo-Webster said every year, thousands of graduates and job seekers enter a labour market that too often operates against them. 

She said Workers' Day is a good time for reforms in the labour system.

"As we mark Workers' Day, we have the opportunity to define what it looks like to be a worker in South Africa. What does it look like to exercise the right to economic participation in South Africa? "

Hlazo-Webster said the bill has received support from not just labour, but also the business community.

"We've been surprised, to be honest, at some of the support that we've had from the business community."

She said BOSA will be writing to leaders of all parties in parliament to urge their support for the bill.