The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) on Thursday called for the abolition of labour brokering, as it exposed workers to exploitation.
”We call upon public representatives to illegalise labour brokering in South Africa and safeguard the future of many young people who are brutally exploited in various factory floors without rights,” the youth league said in a statement.
This followed a presentation to the labour portfolio committee during hearings on labour brokering in Parliament on Wednesday.
”The ANCYL’s 23rd National Congress gave this leadership a mandate to lobby and campaign [for] the illegalisation of labour brokers and agencies that unethically exploit young people … who are the most affected by labour brokering because they constitute 70% of the unemployed population of South Africa,” it said.
Reasons advanced by the youth league for the abolition of labour brokering were that young people were not offered permanent job opportunities, that they were denied benefits like medical aid and worked in unsafe environments.
”It is our considered view that labour brokers do not provide all these basic necessities because they do not safeguard the interests of workers in the workplace because workers do not have a direct relationship with the employer,” the youth league said.
Also, labour brokers took a portion of money that could have been paid to workers and they hired and fired workers as they wished.
”If companies and institutions need labour to continue with their operations, they must be in a position to pay for the labour provided by employees and understand that these are not instruments, but human beings.
”Companies should be taught to appreciate that South Africa comes from a difficult past of forced labour and very unfair labour practices in the mines, big corporations and institutions, and a repeat of such practices should never be allowed,” it said.
It called on Parliament to put in place legislative regulations that would oversee the transfer of workers from labour brokers’ employment to real employers. — Sapa