Casualization and Its Effects in Kenya

Impact of push Laws in Mitigating Effects of effortless(prenominal)isation in Kenya Humphrey Mwangi HD333-BOI-1413/2009 Franklin Mutwiri HD333-BOI-1604/2009 Patrick Mutai HD333-BOI-0087/2009 derriere Warihe HD333-BOI-1268/2009 Susan Awuor HD333-BOI-1222/2009 Mary Mumira HD333-BOI-1246/2009 James Otunga HD333-BOI-1421/2009 Kevin Kariuki HD333-BOI-1249/2009Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology CBD Campus Presented to E. O. Achoch Abstract This study explores and examines the authencetic impact of assiduity legislation in mitigating the disturbing issue of day-by-dayisation of lend in Kenya. The increase in day-after-dayisation in the kingdom is a accede of great contr oversy. Increasingly casual employees be filling offices that ar stable in nature.Behind employee vulnerability in the country is the naughty levels of un usage and get by with poverty. Poverty has bred a dangerous live environment where m whatever dreadful job seekers in the elbow gr ease force ar entrusting to get word any job for survival purposes kinda than dignity. This is a big quarrel for trade unions in their pursuit to protect and advance defecateers rights and foster equal work occasions.The study attempts to cover the fol first baseing as per the stipulations of extension What exactly is casualisation of work, How wide spread is it in Kenya, What difference has new preparation in labor legislation made on casuals according to gender, occupation, post etc, How grind Laws Have Affected Aspects Of unconcerned disciplineers rights, do labor laws run the family of casual workers communities and local stakeholders such as trade union and nongovernmental organizations and what ar the views of employers in terms of impact of labor laws and casualisation of work and their sustainability.Keywords league of Kenyan Employers, Standard Employment Regulation Impact of Labor Laws in Mitigating Effects of casualisation in Kenya Collins Dictionary defi nes casualisation as alter of working practices so that regular workers are re-employed on a casual or fiddling-term basis. Casual use is a handle restorered in any(prenominal) literatures as precariousness a familiar term in engagement (Burgess and Campbell 1998 Weller and Webber 2001 Hunter 2006).Precariousness is seen in terms of bundles of job characteristics to do with danger and short quality of life. It is characterized with lose of regulatory justification and working duration incertificate Casualisation of a workforce is therefore reduction in wax or part time employees and their replacement with employees who are c eached in on an as-needed or casual basis. This erect reduce the employees working conditions by lessen the commitment from the employer to them, and giving the employer opportunities to control them by reducing their hours.Casual workers poop be to a greater extent difficult for employers to manage as they confirm no guarantee of finding avail able employees at any time, besides they oblige the advantage of only employing people when they have the work for them An elastic access to casualisation refer to non-standard and non- steadfast fight relationships such as temporary work, fixed term beseechs, seasonal work and sub deoxidiseing or outsourcing. It is in addition important to make a further distinction amidst casuals that are employed horrendousctly by the company or those that are supplied through outsourcing and sub winceing arrangements.Typically actualize ope identify such as cleaning and catering and in any(prenominal) cases imparting and distri neverthelession and security are sub pruneed. According to Okougbo (2004) casualisation of work is characterized by posit for custom which is highly variable such as port work, rise work, farm migratory work and other jobs of unskilled intermittent nature. He further states that bosom labor is a form of involuntary servitude for a period of time. Labor and service contracts are terms used by circumspection to describe contract labor.Management sometimes refers to it as be shop or direct hire while other refer to contract labor as service providers. Neo-liberal grocery store restructuring globally and in the region is the driving force behind the sharp increase in casualisation. Neo-liberalism seeks to de spoil markets including the labor market to increase labor flexibility. In short, employers compliments the freedom to gift low wage, change the number of workers and how and when work is conducted gum olibanum this is casualisation.According to the employment act (2007) If an employee works for a period or a number of continuous working geezerhood which amount in the aggregate to the equivalent of non less than one month, or performs work which scum bag not reasonably be expected to be sinless within a period, or a number of working solar days amounting in the aggregate to the equivalent of three months or more, then th e contract of service of the casual employee shall be deemed to be one where wages are paid monthly and section 35 (1) (c) shall apply to that contract of service.Labor Relations Act which prescribes that casual worker should be employed permanently after three months of continuous work besides which employees are hypothetic to be provided with medical and house benefits. The Act also stipulate that an employee whose contract of service has been converted in accordance with subdivision (1) (Employment Act, 2007) and who works infinitely for twain months or more from the date of employment as a casual employee shall be entitled to such terms and conditions of service as he / she would have been entitled to under this Act (Employment Act, 2007) had he not initially been employed as a casual employee.These include- Notice. Where the contract is to pay wages or salary periodically at intervals of or exceeding one month, a contract is terminable by any party at the end of the perio d of twenty-eight days conterminous following the giving of observe in writing Working hours. An employer shall regulate the working hours of each employee in accordance with the provisions of this Act and any other written law. Rest period. According to the employment Act subsection (1), an employee shall be entitled to at least one rest day in any period of seven days. Annual perish. After every twelve serial months of service with his employer to not less than twenty-one working days of leave with full pay Maternity leave. A distaff employee shall be entitled to three months maternalism leave with full pay. The female employee shall have the right to return to the job which she held immediately prior to her maternity leave or to a reasonably suitable job on terms and conditions not less favorable than those which would have applied had she not been on maternity leave.A male employer shall be entitled to two weeks paternity leave with full pay. Sick leave. After two con se run flairive months of service with his employer, an employee shall be entitled to sick leave of not less than seven days with full pay and thereafter to sick leave of seven days with half pay. Medical attention. Subject to subsection (2), an employer shall get word the provision sufficient and of proper medicine for his employees during illness and if possible, medical attention during serious illness. Service pay.The casual shall be entitled to service pay for every year worked, the terms of which shall be fixed. The wage bill in the private firmament, a key driver of household expenditure, is increasingly dipping as most employers opt for casual workers to cushion themselves against a harsh byplay environment. Despite stiff regulations introduced last year to protect casual workers from exploitation, gum olibanum making hiring of such employees expensive, Government statistics (GOK, 2006) show that casual employment grew by 13 per pennyime last year compared to a fiv e per cent process in 2007.Comparatively, the levels of regular employment dipped 2. 9 per cent in 2008, reflecting employers preference of hiring casuals during the period, says the 2009 Economic Survey (GOK 2009). Casual workers accounted for 32 per cent of total wage employment. As a result of this preference, the private sector wage bill grew by a measly 10 per cent, compared to a 14. 6 per cent rise in 2007. This is attributed to increased use of casual laborers whose pay is usually lower than that of regular employees.The economy is also in stages sliding into a pear-shapedly casual employment which could have dire implications in the already turbulent labor market,. This would reduce domestic consumption as households will have less to spend, thus reducing beg in the productive sectors and hampering poverty eradication. The Enactment of the Employment Act by Kenyan parliament roots for better security department of casual laborers by making it mandatory for employers to remit statutory deductions to the National Social security mea positive(predicate)s Fund (NSSF) and the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).Previously, casual and contract workers who constitute the majority of Kenyan workforce and include house-helps, watchmen, matatu touts and building and reflection workers did not qualify for most of the benefits that are available to permanent employees. in that respect is also a bigger risk of lay -offs for casual workers to fly the coop the statutory contributions. The greatest impact that the new laws have had in the labor market is to push employers towards outsourcing the services of workers they would ordinarily employ as casuals to abbreviated costs.This had negatively affected the job market in that companies notifynot absorb more jobs and worse still, they have to cut their marketing and advertising budgets to cope. Casual employment re chief(prenominal)s the cheapest way of engaging workers, especially so at these heavy ec onomic times when employers focus is on taming labor costs. But the flipside is that we competency end up with lower revenues from income tax if the labor market was to be largely made up of casuals. The purchasing power for families will also reduce drastically.Hired on short-term contracts, casual workers strive to touch production quotas for ample working hours under poor working conditions and low wages, often without maternity or sick leave, housing and medical allowances. fountainhead-nigh of them are denied right to join trade unions and canonic services resembling water while some are victims of reported sexual bedevilment at the work place. They face stiff penalties for mistakes, work while sit or standing for between eight and twelve hours daily, with only a forty five minute break in between, in devote to beat the quota set by supervisors Kugler et al (2003).Their daily pay is between Sh120 and Sh160 but a percentage is deducted ostensibly for social security or hospital insurance contributions, which rarely benefit them (GOK, 2003). Casual labor market is perpetuated by lack of any permanent, on-going attachment between employer and worker (Ralph C. 1960). Where this condition exists and where entry of worker is easy due to low skill requirements and the absence seizure of institutional barriers, the labor market is likely to accumulate a degenerative surplus of supply.The resultant highly competitive market is conducive to scotch hiring practice and a wide variety of other social evils. Casual workers provide cover at short notice for the absence of permanent staff. slightly may belong to an area pool of relief workers who are contracted when work becomes available. The key characteristics of a casual worker are They are offered work for a specific day or academic term only They have no right to be offered work beyond that day or session There is no regularity of work.It is characterized with lack of regulatory protection and workin g-time insecurity (Tham, 2007). In contrast to standard employment, theres little right to protection against un upright dismissal and no right to notice in case of dismissal (ODonnell, 2004). As a result casual tends to have even less employment security than fixed term employees since they can be dismissed with ease at almost any time. This greatly affects their financial proposition as they are not sure of their fate-they literally live a day at a time.Most dramatically, casual employment is exempted from almost all rights and benefits that have come to be attached to permanent contracts. These include such basic entitlements as annual leave, sick leave and payment for public holidays (Watson et al, 2003). The main attribute is a simple entitlement to wage enhanced in some cases by so called casual loading on the hourly rate of pay. Precariousness has several dimensions but ultimately two of which impact greatly on casual labor rights. These include Lack of regulatory protection Working-time insecurity Other critical dimensions may include low and maverick earnings and employment insecurity which statues are overwhelmingly silent on. statutory regulations has played only a limited role in establishing a standard employment regulation (SER) through the provision of dynamic standards to support a platform of decent work (Cooney et al, 2006). However, it is a complicated and shape system leaving sizeable gaps as a result of poor coverage, poor enforcement and exemptions.The award system provides a large array of rights and entitlements for employees but these are generally confined to full time permanent (standard) employees (Campbell, 2004). These clauses permit casual employment under certain limitations and then specify that casual workers are exempted from most rights entitlements starting with employment protections such as rights to notice and compensation for dismissal. This lack of regulatory protection is not confined to non-standard work. It can also apply to parts of standard workforce where gaps in protection have been eroded.Standardized working time arrangements are central to SER. Deviations from the norms concentrate on on working hours involves irregular work hour both in number and timing overly short overly long These represent a much change in present period, drains employees, control over work and sponsoring increased working-time insecurity. Another central feature of casual employment is the ability of employers to determine the number and timing of hours and to alter these at short notice.Casuals appears here as easily available, easily deployed in workplace and then easily disposable (Walsh et al, 1999). Negotiation of working hours is commonly a quite a fraught process in which workers are often reluctant to slump shifts-even at short notice and even at inconvenient times-for timidity of jeopardizing future offers (Pocock et al, 2004). According to Barone (2001) there do exists various institutional a rrangements that can provide employment protection the private market, labor legislation, collective talk terms arrangements and contractual provisions.Some forms of de facto regulations are also likely to be select even in the absence of legislation simply because both workers and firms can derive advantages from long-term employment relations (OECD,1999). This is invariably averse to employment protection legislation which has of recent days been seen to shut its doors on lock of casuals (Kugler et al,2003). Employers opinion on casualisation can also be deduced from Federation of Kenyan Employers which is a registered umbrella body of employers in Kenya.FKE has duties such as to encourage the principle of sound industrial relations and observance of fair labor practices as well as to promote sound management practices amongst employers through training, research and consultancy services and adoption of best practices. FKE was established in January 1969 in response to the acti vities of the then-Kenya Federation of Labor, which had unified the trade union trend into a single entity. The employers felt they needed an organization that could represent them on major social and economic issues. Since then, the Federation has gained considerable strength and power.It started as a body with only 161 employers today it represents about 3,000. On the waspish issue of casual labor, the group has few real answers. Since a large number of Kenyas industries are seasonal in nature, like agriculture, hotels, restaurants, plantations and other link up businesses, it is very difficult to eliminate casual labor entirely. According to the employment act (2007) cap 35 (a) casual staff can be employed by a company if the contract will not exceed the three month agreement for casual staffing stipulated by the labor law.If there is to be a continuation of the person in the position beyond the three month agreement, the employer is expected to give a contract letter to the i ndividual stipulating the terms of employment. Accordingly FKE (2007) casualisation is rife in the country but most of the companies perpetuating the offence are not mainly its members, so this has limited what the organization can do about it. However, many employers advocate that due to economic hardship not only witnessed in Kenya but globally, they are forced to employ their workers as casuals because they will not contribute to sustain themin the long run.Many companies usually have periods of well-situated and recessions in there businesses and such will determine employment of staff. Some industrial companies employ workers as casual for two months then they rid them of their duties and hire new staffs. The treatment of casuals, says COTU Secretary-General, Francis Atwoli (2009), has haunted the trade union front man for many years and is a throwback to the colonial era when workers were sort as casual people. Atwoli believes the Kenyan labor movement could be strengthe ned if the casuals were allowed to unionize.To this end, COTU is now negotiating with the government to organize casual workers regardless of their salaries. COTU also wants all casual workers to become eligible for the benefits that permanent workers get workers compensation, housing and pensions. The COTU secretary-general recently flayed FKE for advocating that the government should institute more controls on wages. Atwoli sees such a move as an obstacle to expansion in industry. He argues that if workers are poorly paid, their purchasing power will remain low and they will not be able to afford manufactured goods.This will obtain manufacturers from expanding and new jobs will remain an unfulfilled goal. Observers in business circles hypothecate investors view low wages with mixed emotions while some strange investors look at low wages as a sure mean(a)s of maximizing profits, others see them as a sure way of reducing purchasing power in the market which could subsequently me an low sales. On the other hand, government economists argue that it is better to produce low wages that the national economy can support rather than high wages that will lead to high inflation.FKE argues that In gentility minimum wages they are guided by certain factors like the ability of the economy, To sustain any level of minimum wages, FKE says, other factors come into play like the level of unemployment in the country as well as the ability of the small employers to pay. FKE believes that COTU has to be realistic in its get down to the whole issue but FKE is studying COTUs demands. However, it should be noted all players i. e. the government, FKE and COTU concurs that unionizing casuals may be essential to safeguard the gains of all Kenyan workers. pocket-size wages and limited benefits make casuals an attractive proposition for companies trying to cut costs. Discussion The exploding population will only exacerbate the situation as more and more workers enter a work market incompetent of keeping pace with this growth. As the population growth continues to outpace the growth of jobs, employers will have increasing leverage to demand concessions from both workers and their unions. Kenyas labor movement must somehow address these issues if it is to continue to make boost on workers rights. ReferencesCampell, 1 (2004) Casual work and casaulisation how does Australia Compare? hollow and Industry, 15(2) 85-111. (2007) long working hours in Australia working-time regulation and employer Pressures Economic and Labour relation Review, 17(2) 37-68. (2008a) Australia institutional changes and workforce fragmentation, S. 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