20 November 2009
	A long time coming Muzi Maziya, via e-mail

Your article on labour law (Cover Story November 13) was refreshing for its careful research and is a far cry from the emotive and alarmist stories we have come across elsewhere. However, in their mention of the lack of a regulatory impact assessment and an apparently flawed parliamentary hearings process, the writers reflect a misleading bias often found in pro-business media. The truth of the matter is that this attempt to "tighten" labour laws in order to address "new forms of work" has been a long time coming. Since the late 1990s the department of labour has been researching "atypical" work and found in many instances the presence of loopholes that made the post-apartheid labour market laws meaningless for a large group of workers. The labour-broking sector was found to be a noteworthy culprit. Not all labour brokers are to blame, but many exploit joblessness to further undermine worker rights and security in the workplace. The evidence is overwhelming that workers in the labour-broking environment enjoy weak job security, worse pay, inadequate health and safety, a lack of training and many other violations of labour standards. If one of the fundamental functions of labour law has been to provide a basis for social cohesion, then the department of labour's interventions are timely. Any regulatory impact assessment should start at the enormous social costs that emanate from unscrupulous practices that have been in place for many years and affect many workers (as accurately described in your case study ). The labour-broking industry should do itself a favour and not fight the inevitable regulation; rather, it should help government to stave off possible job losses and knee-jerk reactions from unco-operative employers still stuck in the past.