The Department of Labour, armed with some of the most progressive laws to protect vulnerable employees, have seemingly hit the snooze button, writes Gasant Abarder in a new #SliceofGasant column.
Never has workplace bullying and labour law infractions been as rife as now in our 30 years of democracy.
I had a bully when I started my first year of high school. My friends were puzzled when I made a dart for the school gate as soon as the bell rang – driven by a mixture of fear and adrenaline. One day my friends followed me to see what was going on and intervened. The bully never tried it again.
But a schoolground bully was nothing compared to the bullying I have experienced and witnessed in workplaces throughout my almost 30 years as a worker. It has become far more pronounced because the labour market is heavily skewed in favour of the employer.
The reason, I believe, is because of the high levels of unemployment as well as the denigration of labour unions. We don’t need to be reminded that it is a hirer’s market. It’s cold out there without a job and when you succumb to a lifestyle disease because of stress, the bosses will express their sorrow and start the process for your replacement the next day.
With the fall of Cosatu, unions – those champions of the workers’ rights – are toothless and workers don’t have the wherewithal to stick it to the man.
The flouting of labour regulations and bullying are rife in every sector. Human Resource departments appear to favour employers and give lip services to wellness and mental health.
Just last week, I heard about a chain of pizza restaurants that hire almost exclusively employees from neighbouring countries whose residency statuses are tenuous. At these high-end eateries, with a name that sounds like the Afrikaans translation of a sty in your eye, the workers are not even paid a minimum wage and rely on tips and the goodwill of customers in a society that doesn’t always tip.
Then there is the scab labour, where workers are not contractors, when bosses use short time to keep salary bills low when the weather doesn’t play along. I have a relative who produces works of art for film sets, like turning shutterply into cockpits of spacecrafts, but doesn’t get paid if the set building is outdoors.
The taxi industry is another where drivers and their assistants are exploited. The driver and his partner collecting the fare need to reach a certain target on the day and what they earn is what exceeds this target. Bear this in mind, next time you see a minibus taxi driver slaloming through traffic and climbing kerbs like Mel Gibson out of a Mad Max movie. They’re chasing their daily bread.
In the more sophisticated commercial radio industry, the talent which is the happy sounding person on the other side of your radio, is the subject of a strict contract and negotiations happen over short periods where the contract is either extended or you’re out of the line-up. Like most of us, they’re a paycheque away from being homeless.
The thing about bullying is that it can be subjective. Without receipts, like a missive in writing or an audio recording, the person on the receiving end will find it tough to make a case. There are laws that cover bullying like Section 60 of the Employee Equity Act, and it is defined by the expert Sibusiso Dube of Bowman’s attorneys as:
‘The code describes harassment, among others, as unwanted conduct which impairs dignity and which creates a hostile or intimidating work environment for one or more employees. A hostile work environment will be present where conduct has a negative impact on the employees’ ability to work and/or on their personal well-being.’
But Dube hastens to add: ‘Whether an employee has been a victim of bullying will depend on the impact of the alleged bullying on the employee. The test is subjective, however, there may be circumstances where employees believe they are being bullied and this perception is not consistent with the views of a “reasonable person” in the situation of the complaint.’
Who knows why bullies bully. In my experience, it is usually insecure types who themselves are being bullied and are quick to point out the mistakes of others while falling short in their own roles. Often, they’ve hit the ceilings of their career. The reality is this is as good as it gets for them and out of frustration, they pick on the vulnerable to perhaps make them feel better.
I hope my high school bully learnt his lesson that day when my friends intervened. But I’ll tell you this: I’d rather have a fist to the face than a knife in my back.
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Picture: Fauxels / Pexels
