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The more the state tries to regulate the labour market, as with the amendments to the Labour Relations Act which effectively forces labour brokers out of the labour market, the greater the price will be that South Africa will be paying in unemployment, Adv. Anton Alberts, the FF Plus’ parliamentary spokesperson labour says.

According to media reports, research of the 500 largest labour brokers in the country undertaken by the Free Market Foundation, found that 254 000 people will as a direct result of this lose their jobs.

Companies indicated that 192 000 positions would by 31 March (yesterday) no longer be filled with a further 62 000 jobs not being filled at the end of April.

Adv. Alberts says one of the main reasons for this is an amendment which stipulates that temporary workers, contract workers and workers placed in jobs through a labour broker must receive the same remuneration and benefits as permanent workers after six months.

He says that fewer workers can be appointed which will have significant implications for companies’ production and that labour brokers will necessarily not be used any longer.

“Employers will in time fill some of the posts with their own appointments, but what is happening now means nevertheless that 254 000 breadwinners will at the end of this month no longer have an income as a result of the state’s interference.

“Mechanisation, especially in the fields of agriculture and mining are increasingly seen and applied as the only way of circumventing the ANC’s draconian labour legislation.

“The majority of these short-sighted labour laws only have the objective to protect and benefit those people who already have jobs while it leads to the unemployment figure increasing daily,” Adv. Alberts says.

Issued by the FF+