Job is hard to find

Then there are the “aslams [asylum seekers]”, a regular feature of the casual labour workforce. If a worker’s permit runs out while he’s under contract, Visser says he, the main contractor, “will be in deep shit — they will lock me up on-site”.

But the regulations do not stop subcontractors from turning a blind eye to this.

This kind of casualised labour creates an additional layer of legal distance between the employer and the employee.

The Casual Workers Advice Office in Johannesburg is a nonprofit organisation that provides support to workers in a precarious situation. It receives many casualised workers, most of whom are fed up with trade unions’ response to their plight.

The advice office’s Igshaan Schroeder says another form of casualisation is the use of labour brokers, which he calls a “fig leaf” for employers. He says there has been a strong sense of outrage from workers. Trade unions have rallied against labour broking for years, yet as insecure work proliferates, there is little sign that these efforts will bear fruit.

“In that case, t h e wo r k e r s ’ demands have been completely clear. They’re not reconciling to that form of labour. They are absolutely clear they should be employed by the client companies,” Schroeder says.

John* is a Mozambican who works on a construction site. The mangled index finger on his left hand contradicts his insistence that his job is not dangerous. He confesses that the counterweight from a lift on a construction site once landed on his hand. He pulls his hand back as he tells the story, a jerky reaction to the reminder of the pain.

In his current job, he earns about R6 000 a month. He has worked for the same contractor for six years; the job has never been permanent. His contract is renewed each year.

John is a case study in two trends. He was a mineworker at Impala Platinum before changing careers. He left when violent strikes made the environment unbearable for him.

It is increasingly rare for workers to stay in the same profession for their entire careers.

Research by the London Business School released in 2014 says this is especially true for people born in the 1980s and 1990s.

Second, John is part of a class of contract workers whose contracts are renewed at regular intervals.

John considers his work to be stable, even permanent, but it is not. Under the illusion that his job is not precarious, John does not question the nature or length of his contract.

The truth, however, is that his contract can be cancelled at the end of this very job, or the next, and he will have little recourse.

Schroeder says people like John work for the same company for years without the benefits that come with being a permanent, full-time worker. Charles Mkhonza (42) has been a florist all his life. He is an anomaly — he has been in the same job, his first, since 1990. He has been offered jobs by other florists, but his relationship with his employer is what keeps him at Dunkeld Fruit and Flowers in Johannesburg.

He enthuses about his work. “The best part of my job is meeting different types of customers. The worst part is seeing a customer walk out unhappy.”

The most important thing when putting together a bouquet is the person’s age. “I try to match the flowers to the customer’s age. For example, for the elderly, I usually use bright colours, or indigenous flowers. Something summery and colourful.”

He was put on a permanent contract in 2000. “Before then, we didn’t really know about contracts.”

In five years’ time, Mkhonza hopes to be right where he is now. “Just enjoying my job.”