Are Learnership Stipends Fair? Trapped Between Business and Black Tax. Learner complaints show how SETAs fail to support and monitor accredited organisations and employers, thereby allowing for a range of irregularities and questionable practices.
Is Business Heroic?
Companies are rewarded for providing learnerships. They receive generous BEE points and tax rebates, often raking back millions.
What is the amount of the allowance for companies?
Companies can claim a total of R60 000 per completed learnership, and R100 000 for each disabled candidate. Companies ALSO claim back all payments made to learners. This means firms have nothing to lose but everything to gain if they pay learners a stipend that helps alleviate poverty conditions.
So why don’t they? Do firms secure their wealth by creating a poor working class who earn too little to change and improve their economic status?
Youth who can’t afford traditional qualifications can choose occupational qualifications such as learnerships. Do we punish them by exploiting their limited choices?
On a learnership, you can only qualify if your portfolio is signed off by an employer and if you have completed the workplace experience requirements.
This means youth must provide their labour at whatever price the company is willing to pay if they wish to achieve a qualification.
Question: Would it be better if funded learnerships for the unemployed were implemented by TVET Colleges and if only learnerships for the employed were implemented by firms? This would remove the problem of youth being exploited in a labour market that offers them very little protections.
Employers believe that since they are providing the study and work opportunity – learners should not expect more. Is this fair given that the business isn’t sacrificing much and in fact, gains plenty by providing the opportunity? If learners can’t cope on R1500, does it mean they are too poor to participate?
Legislation provides minimum stipend benchmarks, but few organisations have policies against exploiting low wages and instead, opt to only pay minimums.
Complaints about learnership stipend issues were posted on Keep Climbing. Names have been removed to protect the identity of learners, some of whom are still in the situation.
*Disclaimer: Comments have not been investigated and while some efforts have been made to assist, not everyone received the support required. Comments must be substantiated as fact, but should not be dismissed without investigation by the relevant authorities.
The names of organisations remain in the comments. If the relevant SETA contacts me with evidence to dispute the comments, then I will add the evidence they provide to this post.
Learners posting comments should understand that issues of non-payment should be taken to the DHET, the Department of Labour, the relevant Union, the relevant SETA and finally the CCMA.
Lodge complaints at each of the departments listed, they are all inefficient and you cannot be sure who will actually step up for you. The CCMA is listed last as it’s the least effective in these matters. When you go to them, you must say you’re an employee and that your SALARY hasn’t been paid, they don’t understand learnerships and stipends.
About Non Payment
We are in a learnership for professional driving. Our problem is we have had about two months of not getting stipends and they stopped us coming.
As the learners we have a right to education as the learnerships are for youth that have no access to further their education. So what must we do?
Just leave them or what?
Fake Learnerships?
Can’t Cope on R1500
Many of our youth pay #BlackTax – support to their families. Youth are maintaining struggling households because their communities perceive them as wealthy.
Yet many learners barely earn enough to keep themselves alive. This makes our youth vulnerable to all sorts of struggles and power based relationships, such as the ‘sugar babes’ and ‘ben 10s’ in order to find a way to help their families and maintain their own dignity.
We like to pass our appreciation about the relevant information.
Pity some of the young people are still being exploited by the companies because of the current situation they are faced with.There are young people in Durban at ISIPHNGO area who are renting Rooms, have to buy food and to pay for transport on top of that. Yet they are to receive R1500 a month only as their stipend.
Why are our young so exploited after they studied years to become electricians for our better country?
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How much an apprentice supposed to get?
Stipend Deductions
Hi I forgot to mention that sometimes we don’t get a full stipend and if ever you are absent they deduct the stipend. Does it happen that a stipend is being deducted as it is not a salary?
My academy is Artisan Development Academy in Berea Road Durban. And if you need PPE”S they give us cheap Chinese material. I am very worried about this academy because they make our lives miserable. Please help!
The deductions amounted to 33% of the gross wage since they paid us for one day, and on our payslips for job title instead of it stating learner it stated general worker. When we asked, they said it’s the 1st time the company ran a learnership and they have to update the system.So what must we do mam please help.
For a full week we worked. We are promised R600 weekly stipend.
And for that week we worked only one day which supposed to have amounted to R120 but after deductions it was R70.
Poor Learnership Support
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Stipend Story from Gugu – Posted on LinkedIn
Hi Leonie
Thank you so so much for this platform you have opened for us all.
I’m a learner myself at Progression Options doing AAT: Accounting Technician I’ve never had a permanent job in my life “as yet :)”
I was on an Financial Management internship before.
FACT is our stipends are for transport and for us to look presentable at work, that’s what it’s meant for and we as learners sign up for that. Reality is most of our families / communities do not have those facts about our stipends. They “believe” that we (learners) as their children have made it in life, we done with school and we are now “working” so we need to help out financially no questions asked #BlackTax. What’s keeping me going with my stipend is self discipline.
“It’s not how much I have BUT how I use what I have”
FACT = Our stipends are not enough BUT with the little that I have, I make sure to appreciate and make the best out of it. I have a monthly budget that helps me see what I can afford to do and what I can’t afford too. With this I’ve never struggled to come to work and that’s all that matters right??? At the end of it all I know my CV will be FAT enough for all employers out there.
BUT It really would assist us if employers look into increasing our stipends, until then I guess we need to keep up with what we have.
Personal motivation = “I will suffer for a while but in no time it will all come to an end, then I can start earning what I rightfully deserve.”
That’s my take on the matter!!!!
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