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Labour Hire Companies in Namibia

Labour hire practices in Namibia, back then known as South West Africa, dates back since the existence of the South African colony in the country. Back then Namibian men were employed for hard labour to work on railway building, agriculture and mining at minimal payment rates on the contract labour system. The labour contract system which was under South West African Native Labour Association (SWANLA) and African Personalize Services (APS) are similar to a certain extend. During the apartheid South African government in 1960’s, employment opportunities was very scares for black men in particular leaving them with no choice but to join the labour contract system which had harsh working and living conditions. After independence, workers are still faced with the same issues under APS that were encountered during the labour contract system of the past. Thus, APS have created many job opportunities in Namibia in different lines of work which contributed to the employment rate in the country.

African Personnel Services have certain advantages to it for their clients. Companied use the services of APS for the short-term employment of labourers to make up for lost time and to meet the high demand requirement during peak periods. Thus, companies could now save on cost associated with employing employees such as benefits, advertising cost and all other cost encored by the firm during the recruitment process. Employees who were employed by the African Personalise Services were now easily replaceable by terminating the contract and find a replacement for that person.

While labour hire companies and client companies reap all the benefits from labour hire, the workers are usually the ones that suffer most. The increase of labour hire companies result in labour hire companies having to compete with one another to attract client companies. A consequence thereof is that workers’ wages rates will also be decreased to accommodate the provision of cheap labour. Accoutring to studies conducted by The Labour Resource and Research Institute (LaRRI) (2006), showed that wage rates for unskilled labour range from N$2 to N$9 per hour, while some workers are paid on a piece-meal basis, e.g. 6(six) cents for every crate they load onto a truck.