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Unfair treatment not only at labour-hire firms
THE criticism against labour-hire companies is not dying down, despite a ruling made by the Supreme Court last month that the clause in Namibia’s Labour Act banning this practice is unconstitutional.
This week, several workers’ rights groups criticised the court ruling, which now compels the Labour Ministry to draw up a new draft for that particular clause in Chapter 10.
Clause 128(1) stipulates that “no person may for reward, employ any person with a view to making that person available to a third party to perform work for the third party.”
While exploitation of workers recruited by labour-hire companies occurs worldwide and also in Namibia, the reality is that people at least manage to find employment with Namibia having an unemployment rate of roughly 40 per cent.
According to Tim Parkhouse, Secretary General of the Namibia Employers’ Federation (NEF), up to 16 000 people are employed by labour-hire companies in Namibia.
“We guess there could be between 15 to 20 labour-hire companies in Namibia and several of them are black economic empowerment (BEE) firms and all of them in total employ between 10 000 and 16 000 people,” Parkhouse told The Namibian yesterday.
“We are not sure what the situation is north of Tsumeb and Grootfontein in the six northern regions of the country as there are no figures available,” Parkhouse added.
The NEF, which represents some 4 000 employers, was aware that labour-hire companies often paid lower wages and might not provide medical aid or a pension scheme.
“But these things can be regulated and strict enforcement monitored by the Labour Ministry and its inspectors would be welcomed by the NEF,” Parkhouse said.
“You always get bad apples in a sector, also among labour-hire companies, but permanent staff regularly employed also get exploited where either the Social Security Commission (SSC) levies might not be paid, or no proper pension and medical aid schemes are in place.”
According to the NEF official, there was a market for labour hire and – when properly regulated – it contributed to job creation.
“In South Africa some 500 000 people are employed by 12 000 labour-hire companies, many of which are BEE outfits,” Parkhouse added.
“The NEF is aware that there are plans to ban labour hire in South Africa, however one must also ask where must the line be drawn between companies outsourcing jobs and entire departments and labour hire,” according to Parkhouse.
“It starts for instance with outsourcing the cleaning of offices, the catering in a company’s canteen or the cash till systems with cashiers, supervisors et al,” Parkhouse told The Namibian.
Parkhouse also serves on the Labour Advisory Council set up by the Labour Ministry several years ago, where such topics are discussed. The labour unions are also represented on the LAC.
“The redrafting of Clause 128 of the Labour Act will be probably discussed there as well, but we must remember that the LAC only advises the Ministry,” Parkhouse emphasised.
