Join us at the Public Interest law Gathering where will be discussing #OutsourcingMustFall

Internationally ‘labour flexibility’ has been the underlying philosophy guiding state and employer reform of labour markets over the past 20 to 30 years, ostensibly in response to intensified competition caused by globalization. Employers have completely reorganised the employment relation by increasingly using more and more contract or casual labour. In some instances such labour is directly employed, in others it is supplied by temporary employment services, or labour brokers. So dramatic is this reorganisation of the employment relation that in at least 29% of cases at the CCMA involving labour brokers, workers do not know who their employer is. The overall effect of this change in the employment relation has been to dramatically weaken all workers and the trade unions, opening workers up to extreme exploitation in the process. Trade unions globally are struggling to come to terms with this new terrain of organising, with both the traditional worker and traditional workplace having been radically transformed.

In South Africa, temporary and casualised and informal work has become commonplace in the hospitality, construction and retail sectors. However, in August 2014, the Presidency promulgated the Labour Relations Amendment Act 6 of 2014 (“LRAA”) which gives major new rights to casual workers and redefines the relationship between labour brokers, workers and the ‘client’ with whom they are placed. In the recent cases, Assign Services (Pty) Ltd v CCMA and Others, the Labour Court was asked to review the decision of the CCMA, in terms of which it had ruled that the client was deemed to be the ‘sole employer’ of the placed employee. The aim of the panel is to discuss the impact of the new legislation on the protection of precarious workers and recent success of the #OutsourcingMustFall campaign.

Panellists: Lesirela Letsebe (Lawyers for Human Rights), Suzanna Harvey (Cape Bar), Ighsaan Schroeder (Casual Workers Advice Office)

Facilitator: Wayne Ncube (Lawyers for Human Rights)

Where: University of Western Cape

When: Tuesday, 25 July 2017

Time: 11h30-13h00

To register to attend the Public Interest Law Gathering click here

For more information on this see the latest Judgment on casual workers here