Skorpion ready for labour-hire ban

WHILE Friday’s High Court postponement of the labour-hire ban may serve as a reprieve for some, the widely held assumption that the ban would have come into effect on Sunday ensured that several companies that previously made use of labour hire had their houses in order in time for the deadline.

Skorpion Zinc last week confirmed that revised service contracts would come into effect on Sunday in line with the labour-hire ban stipulated in the new Labour Act.’Skorpion Zinc has per requirements of the Namibian legislation, specifically the amended Labour Act of 2004, changed all labour-hire agreements to comply with Government policy. This means service contracts will come into effect on March 1 2009,’ said Eve Black, Communications Manager for Skorpion Zinc.The ban was on Friday placed on hold in the High Court until the Supreme Court has had a say on the constitutionality of outlawing labour hire.A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court will today hear an appeal from Africa Personnel Services (APS), a labour-hire company that sourced out the majority of Namibia’s 10 000 to 16 000 labour-hire workers.Black said the revised agreements are with service providers to perform the duties stipulated in the contracts, and that the new agreements would ensure that labourers would not fall under the labour-hire definition. ‘The companies who perform services are ultimately responsible for the employment contracts and conditions between and with their employees,’ she said.Skorpion Zinc would not disclose the names or the number of other companies contracted to perform work at the mine, stating that it was ‘not at liberty to reveal such information’. ‘Our contractual agreements clearly stipulate that all information is confidential and not for disclosure to third parties,’ Black explained.One of these contractors, however, is Grinaker-LTA, to which Skorpion Zinc outsources its maintenance function, and with which revised agreements were drawn up as several workers fell under the labour-hire definition, despite the company maintaining that it was not a labour-hire firm.Morris Pluker, Site Manager for Grinaker-LTA at Skorpion Zinc, confirmed last month that its contract had been terminated with effect from the end of February, and that a new contract, which came into effect on Sunday, would be drawn up. He noted that 101 jobs would have been placed on the line if the new contract had not come to fruition.The Namibian received confirmation last week from employees at the company that they were being called in individually to sign revised employment contracts.Asked how Skorpion Zinc would ensure that contractors were not in breach of the labour-hire stipulation, Black stated that upon signing a service agreement, permanent contractors fully agree to comply with the Code of Business Conduct which governs the company principles of the Anglo American Group, which wholly owns Skorpion Zinc.’Employees are informed about the provisions of the Labour Act and should report non-compliance to the relevant authorities or follow necessary grievance procedures. Skorpion Zinc clearly subscribes to the laws of the country and should a contractor be found in breach of compliance, which includes country specific national laws the contract with the service provider will be terminated,’ Black said.The ban on labour-hire has spurred several mixed reactions, with APS, whose core business is labour hire, being at the forefront of challenging its ban in the new Labour Act of 2007. Labour hire has, however, been described as modern-day slavery, with Herbert Jauch of the Labour Resource and Research Institute describing it as the application of the capitalist logic of pursuing higher profits at all costs, and by any means necessary.

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