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CASUALISATION OF LABOUR AT ZAMBIA ELECTRICITY SUPPLY CORPORATION IN LUSAKA, ZAMBIA. FORCE MUNGAZI MUGANYU, A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED AS PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE AWARD OF THE BACHELOR OF ARTS IN PURCHASING ND SUPPLY iii ABSTRACT This persistent use of casual Labor even after they have worked for more than six months is known as Casualisation. Casualisation stems from the word „casual‟ which, broadly, means temporal or occasional. Casualisation has several disadvantages which includes the following; high poverty levels because casual workers receive only what they work for, they do not receive any allowances or bonus like Christmas bonus, de-motivating of employees-that is to say a casual worker will be motivated when he first takes up an appointment but motivation will diminish with time unless he is employed and confirmed as a permanent and Pensionable employee, and tension and confrontations for example when it has been agreed by permanent employees to go on strike, Casual workers will continue to work and this will result in confrontation. However, Casualization has its own advantages which that make companies prefer it. Some of the advantages discovered from the research are; flexibility in operation as most casual workers are engaged verbally and there are no legal bindings involved. Therefore, it is easier to lay them off even without notice. In the face of swings in the demand of goods and services, temporal employment affords firms the flexibility needed to operate efficiently, reduction of financial burden on the company - many companies in their introduction stages prefer casual workers because they lack financial power and administration capacity for various operations required to run a company efficiently and because separation packages, if any, are relatively low, and temporal workers tend to be objective. Because the temporal worker has little experience in the host firm, she brings an objective perspective to the organizations‟ problems and procedures that are sometimes valuable. Also since the temporal worker may have a great deal of experience in other firms, she can sometimes identify solutions to the host organizations‟ problems that were contracted at a different firm. Thus temporal employee can sometimes help employers to benchmark and improve their practices. Finally the research has revealed that Casualisation of labour has been on the increase in Zambian companies including ZESCO because of the many loopholes that exist in the employment laws. However, there are a few enforceable provisions in the labour laws and are ineffectively enforced by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security owing to the few labour inspectors per district. To this end it has been recommended that Government should strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to monitor employment issues across Zambia and ensure compliance with all provisions of the labour laws, notably those that deal with Casualisation of labour. iv DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my husband and my children. It is also dedicated to my employers, who occasionally allowed me to take time off my normal duties and attend to my studies and for the financial support render. v DECLARATION I, Force Mungazi Muganyu, declare that I am the sole author of this dissertation, that during the period of registered study with Cavendish University, I have not submitted this work to any other University for an academic award or qualification, nor has any of the material been submitted wholly or partially for any other award. This dissertation is a result of my own research work and where other people‟s work was used, they have been duly acknowledged. Candidate ....................................................... Sign........................................................ Supervisor ..........................................................Sign….......................................................... vi Table of Contents CASUALISATION OF LABOUR AT ZAMBIA ELECTRICITY SUPPLY CORPORATION IN LUSAKA, ZAMBIA. ......................................................................................................... 3 DEDICATION .................................................................................................................................. 5 DECLARATION .............................................................................................................................. 6 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY ................................................................................. 10 1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT ............................................................................................... 11 1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ................................................................................. 12 1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ..................................................................................... 13 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS .............................................................................................. 13 1.6 ASSUMPTIONS .............................................................................................................. 13 1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................. 14 1.8 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 14 CHAPTER TWO ................................................................................................................................ 15 2.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 15 2.2 THEORETICAL FOUNDATION OF CASUALISATION ............................................ 16 Marxist theory ................................................................................................................................. 16 2.3 DEFINITION OF CASUALISATION OF LABOUR ..................................................... 17 2.4 LEGAL GUIDANCE ON EMPLOYMENT .................................................................... 19 Comment on labour laws................................................................................................................. 19 2.5.0 ETHICAL GUIDANCE ON EMPLOYMENT: ............................................................... 20 2.5.1 CONVENTIONS AND COVENANTS SIGNED BY ZAMBIA. ................................... 21 2.6.0 MORAL GUIDANCE ON EMPLOYMENT .................................................................. 22 Guiding values................................................................................................................................. 22 2.7.0 WHAT CAUSES CASUALISATION OF LABOUR GENERALLY? .......................... 23 2.8.0 ADVANTAGES OF CASUALISATION TO EMPLOYERS ......................................... 26 2.8.1 Flexibility in operation ..................................................................................................... 26 2.8.2 Reduction of financial burden on the Company ............................................................... 26 2.8.3 Objectivity of temporal worker ........................................................................................ 27 2.9.0 DISADVANTAGES OF CASUALISATION TO EMPLOYEES................................... 27 vii 2.9.1 The High poverty levels ................................................................................................... 27 2.9.3 Tensions and confrontations ............................................................................................. 28 2.10 CASUALISATION OF LABOUR IN ZAMBIA ............................................................. 29 2.11 CASUALISATION OF LABOUR AT PENSIONS ........................................................ 32 2.12 CASUALISATION OF LABOUR IN AFRICA .............................................................. 34 2.13 CASUALISATION OF LABOUR GLOBALLY ............................................................ 35 2.14 THE ZAMBIAN GOVERNMENT POLICIES ON CASUALISATION OF LABOUR 37 2.15 IS CASUALISATION A GOOD PRACTICE? ............................................................... 37 2.16 THE IMPACT OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS CHANGE ........................................... 39 2.17 INDUSTRIAL ISSUES AND UNION MEMBERSHIP ................................................. 40 2.18 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 41 CHAPTER THREE ............................................................................................................................ 42 3.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 42 3.2.0 SOURCES OF DATA ...................................................................................................... 42 3.2.1 TARGET POPULATION ................................................................................................ 42 3.2.3.1 SAMPLE SIZE .................................................................................................................... 43 3.2.2 SAMPLING METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................... 43 3.2.3 THE RESEARCH INSTRUMENT .................................................................................. 43 3.2.3.1 QUESTIONNAIRE CONSTRUCTION .......................................................................... 44 3.2.3.2 THE QUESTIONNAIRE ITEM .....................................................................................