The struggle shall continue, yes indeed young lions labour brokers must be banned because they are marginalizing the working class.
On 8/13/09, Gugu Ndima <[email protected]> wrote: > *“Labour brokers.......The modern day slave trade”* > > *The Young Communist League of South Africa (uFasimba) calls for the > complete BAN of Labour brokers* > > *13 August 2009* > > Its quiet astonishing, if not baffling that the Minister of labour is opting > for the regulation route with respect to labour brokers as opposed to the > complete banning of them. It has been proven on a preponderance of > probabilities that the usage of labour brokers has been nothing but futile > to the working class; the only beneficiaries of such a practise has been the > labour brokers themselves as well as the companies that choose to utilise > this mechanism for employment. > > We should deviate from being narrow-minded about the implications of the > usage of labour brokers; it is not only within the context of Labour but we > need to take cognisance of the socio economic impacts that it has on the > actual labourer/worker. Firstly this has opened room for the intensification > of exploitation by companies because the full wage that the worker is > entitled to as a result of them employing their skills, is cut as a result > of this intermediary broker. It minimises the workers ability to be > economically active due to certain restrictions that are the default > consequences of being under the administration of a labour broker. Financial > institutions for example have certain requirements which become an obstacle > for those that are not permanently employed by companies, meaning that one > cannot apply for any long-term debt with a financial institution regardless > of how long they have been employed. It also promotes perpetual > casualisation of employees and that simply means that permanency is not > necessarily based on merit but it is at the discretion of the employer when > they see it fit; that on its own is an infringement of one’s’ rights as you > might end up spending years being casual and finding yourself unemployed > without prior notice as rights enjoyed by those who are permanent are not > necessarily available to those that are under labour brokers. > > *Monopolising the labour market* > > There seems to be a high trend of collusion in South Africa and the labour > brokerage industry has not been innocent in the process. If you have > observed the tendency amongst employers and labour brokers you will see that > most posts that are advertised on media are always with some reference to a > broker or recruitment agency; if you to attempt contacting the organisation > directly, you are referred to the labour broker direct. This now means that > the working class will be subjected to the mercy of labour brokers in order > to be seen as competent. The tests utilised to assess merit and skills > competencies are disadvantageous to those with no access to technology. The > fact that some people need to register their Resumes online already > ostracises the poorest of the poor in our society!! The fact that you need > to first via the route of being interviewed by the labour broker prior to > the employer is an unnecessary barrier for those that have limited resources > to move around logistically. > > *Job hopping-labour broking causation? * > > Notwithstanding other factors, labour broking also promotes “job-hopping” > which is a serious detriment to the working class as it reflects negatively > on one’s resume when further seeking greener pastures; the labour broker can > easily utilise a worker for five years which is profitable for them. Now > unfortunately the worker does not enjoy the same consistency with respect to > architecting a career. Yes one might argue about the opportunity that is > awarded to the worker to have options, but most people tend to leave jobs > due to the work conditions and it seems more of a peaceful option to seek > employment elsewhere than fighting losing battles with resistant employers. > > * * > > *Labour unions* > > The usage of labour brokerage has frustrated the process of organising > employees to form unions within sectors that are labour broker oriented. > This has resulted in unfair dismissals and workers accepting conditions of > employment that are unbearable as a result of fear instilled by those that > hold the power to hire and fire without consultation; this is another > attribute to why the private sector is advocating the retaining of labour > brokers. It’s easier to delegate labour dispute matters to labour brokers to > deal with as opposed to the matter being dealt with by the Human resource > structures or employee representative structures. This compromises the > process of dealing with grievances raised by the worker as there is never a > proper and objective process in order to deal with the matter at hand. It > would be a complete betrayal to the working class should we agree with the > minister. As mentioned, this is a “modern slave trade” practise as the > ideological connotation and underlying fundamental principle utilised today > is the same as that utilised in the past where men of colour and plebeians > were seen as commodities of trade. > > Labour brokers have profited immensely since the boom of the call-centre > industry (lest we forget that the majority of young people are working > within call-centers). This does not promote progression as the ceiling is > very low for those in that industry. People employed within that sector by > labour brokers have found it exhausting and futile to take up matters with > the conciliation and mediation institutions because they are always referred > back to their labour brokers and we know that with labour brokers profit > comes first rather than the interest of the worker. It’s imperative that we > look at this matter holistically because it seems now that the Minister has > the private sectors’ interests as well as those that are the profiteers of > the practise and suppressing the casualties of this practise. This has also > exposed that companies blatantly refuse to increase wages; if they can pay > labour brokers why can’t they increase wages? We fail to see the logic of > having a human resource department whereby 60% of the work is outsourced to > labour brokers and people that administer payrolls, but yet we have an HR > manager that still gets a full-scale market related salary. Clearly this > indicates that there is a huge resistance by the private sector to pay > workers decent wages, they would rather enrich other capitalists just like > them and continue to frustrate workers. > > The Young communist league of South Africa calls for the COMPLETE BAN of > labour brokers!! > > *Issued by the YCLSA head office* > > *For further information contact: Gugu Ndima (Spokesperson)* > > *076 783 1516* > > *011 339 3621* > > *[email protected]* > > > -- > Gugu Ndima > +27 76 783 1516 > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. 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