Regulated flexibility and the Labour Relations Amendment Bill of 2012

Abstract

Contrary to statements by Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the South African government is not ignoring a decision adopted at the African National Congress' (ANC's) 2007 national congress in Polokwane to ban "labour brokers" (s 198 Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (LRA) refers to "labour brokers" as "temporary employment services" (TES); Anon "Labour Brokers" Leadership 19 March 2012 available at http://bit.ly/13Wyg1v (accessed 2013-5-25)). This is confirmed by the ANC's 2009 election manifesto which called for laws that would "ensure decent work... introduce laws to regulate contract work, subcontracting and out-sourcing, address the problem of labour broking and prohibit certain abusive practices" ("2009 ANC Election Manifesto" available at http://bit.ly/gP5gKl (accessed 2013-5-25); Benjamin "To regulate or to ban? Controversies over temporary employment services in South Africa and Namibia" in Labour Law Into the Future: Essays in Honour of D'Arcy du Toit (eds Malherbe & Sloth-Nielsen) (2012) 189 202).