This is according to Richard Pike, Adcorp Holdings' chief executive, who yesterday slammed taking the bad practices of some labour broking agencies as typical of the entire industry.
He said the number of job losses caused by banning labour brokers would be so high that it would make the number of retrenchments caused by the economic recession look “insignificant”.
Speaking in a radio debate with Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven yesterday, Pike said the employment services industry contributes billions of rands to the economy — more than agriculture.
He said the industry complies with the labour directives of the International Labour Organisation and abides by the guidelines of its parent body, the Confederation of Associations in the Private Employment Sector.
Pike said the banning of labour brokers in Namibia resulted in 30% of that country's contractors losing their jobs.
“It is an absolute myth that we don't create jobs,” he said.
Craven argued that the banning of labour brokers would not result in job losses because the only change would be that companies would have no choice but to employ workers direct.
“Our role as a trade unions federation is to change a reality in which workers are farmed out as commodities,” said Craven.
He admitted that the federation's stance on labour brokers was also fuelled by the fact that they restrict trade unions' activities in the workplace.
“We are calling for a total banning of labour brokers because, as long as employers have an option to use labour brokers, they will continue to do so,” he said.
Responding to the notion that labour broking creates immediate employment opportunities for the unemployed, Craven said “the worst would be to accept that people who don't have jobs should be ruthlessly exploited”.
Andrew Levy, owner of labour law firm Andrew Levy & Associates, said regulation was the best option to consider.
“Labour brokers serve a useful purpose in the economy and banning them outright will create huge problems of unemployment”.
“However, regulation is important because there are some abusive [brokers],” he said.
Source: Business Times
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