SAA agrees to exclude labour brokers

SAA has agreed to phase out labour brokers, trade union UASA said in a statement on Tuesday.    “UASA has reached a landmark agreement with South African Airways (SAA) in terms of which the airline will start phasing out this practice,” the statement said.

The union said the issue of labour hire agencies, commonly known as ‘labour brokers’, was heating up in SA and elsewhere on the sub-continent.  According to UASA, at the recent congress of the Federation of Trade Unions of SA (FEDUSA), president Kgalema Motlanthe said in no uncertain terms that labour broking was unacceptable in its present form.

And in neighbouring Namibia, the High Court recently upheld the ban on labour brokers, when that country’s biggest labour hire agency challenged the constitutionality of a clause in the new Labour Act 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”, UASA said.

UASA said that although labour broking was not yet illegal in South Africa, the government had hinted its intention to put an end to it or at least to reject it.

“It is in this spirit that UASA has reached agreement with SAA on the duration of the airline’s contract with the labour broking company Quest at In-flight Services as well as the number of Quest crew to be employed,” the statement said.

While further details of the agreement would be announced at a later stage, the most important point was that SAA had agreed in principle to phase out the practice of placing temporary employees into positions that could be defined as permanent employee positions in future, UASA said.

UASA said it was also engaging CAPES, the confederation representing labour brokers, to explore ways and means of addressing unacceptable employment practices without having to resort to the drastic measure of banning.

“Labour brokers do add value, but it is up to the parties to find ways to promote decent work that will prevent the exploitation of vulnerable workers,” UASA said.

SAA could not be reached for comment.

Related Stories

• Tourism Business Council applauds appointment of new SAA CEO

FREE  for 30 days

 Email This  Print This