Casualisation on the agenda for union meeting with government.

[Dave A]

The Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) on Wednesday welcomed a proposed meeting between the government and labour unions to discuss unemployment, poverty reduction and globalisation.

"We view the government's commitment to engage with labour around key social and economic issues in a very positive light," said Fedusa's general secretary, Dennis George, in a statement.

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The regulation of casualisation would also be high on the list of matters the federation will raise at the bi-lateral.
full story from M&G here

My theory is that casualisation is proof that "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." One of the main drivers of casualisation are the stringent labour laws. Obviously labour hopes to extend the net.

So this byline stemming from the World Bank's Doing Business 2007 report becomes rather pertinent (from this story on M&G about doing more online which I also think is a pretty good idea)

McLiesh said South Africa needed more flexible labour policies because overprotective laws could make businesses reluctant to offer jobs in the first place.

She warned that over protective labour regimes could "protect a worker out of a job".

[entoserv]

We're trying to make labour more casual? They don't give a damn already.

[Dave A]

I'll take that as tongue-in-cheek, but a couple of comments:

There definitely is a trend in larger enterprises to hire casual labour and manipulate their hours and contracts to maintain that status as casual labour, as opposed to converting to regular permanent staff as would have been done in days gone by. Smaller enterprises don't seem to have mastered this trick.

In respect of "labour don't give a damn already" - not a good sign. Part of the responsibility of the business leadership role is to motivate staff. We can't rely on staff being consistently self-motivated.

[duncan drennan]

In respect of "labour don't give a damn already" - not a good sign. Part of the responsibility of the business leadership role is to motivate staff. We can't rely on staff being consistently self-motivated.

Care to shed your thoughs on this in a new thread maybe? It is something that has always confounded me.

Obviously different type of staff are motivated by different things, but how does one manage that effectively to get productive and compliant people? (read compliant as working towards the goals of the company)

[Dave A]

There's two ways to go about this:

1. Kick the topic off in a thread and everyone contributes, or
2. I/someone writes an article and we can add comments.

I don't mind much either way but if I'm going to do an article - well, I've just done one and they don't come together in a day. At least, not for me. Need at least a little break before the next big one.

If someone wants to start the thread with a couple of ideas, I'll join in as stuff comes to mind/hand.