Exploring the ethics of outsourced labour in post-apartheid South Africa

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The ethics of outsourcing labour has been in the media spotlight recently, particularlyconcerning universities in South Africa. Ethical consistency is particularly important foreducational institutions because schools and universities have the responsibility of modellingcorrect behaviour for their students. As both schools and universities are microcosms ofbroader South Africa, it is illuminating to review the events surrounding the University ofCape Town (UCT) and their students' mobilisation in 2015 under the banner#OutsourcingMustFall, which was aimed at ending the exploitative practice of outsourcinglabour.These events created the precedent for the current study, which examines the ethics ofoutsourced labour through descriptive testimonies of 42 outsourced workers at a school inCape Town (henceforth referred to as The School), to determine if a conflict exists betweenthe core values of The School and the practice of outsourced labour. The central questiondriving this research is: 'Even though outsourced labour is an accepted practice worldwide,does it best serve the interests of all people in South Africa, specifically within the context ofSouth Africa's transformational goals and the values and ethics of The School?' Thehypothesis is that there is a dilemma between The School's core values and the practice ofoutsourced labour.The study is socially and politically significant as it addresses an emergent social problem inSouth Africa, namely the impact of outsourcing and the plight of precarious workers. Thecentral findings are that the outsourced workers are marginalised and that their very existenceat The School presents an ethical dilemma that contradicts the values the school stands for.The findings suggest that the dynamics at The School, while caring and inclusive of its core stakeholders, exclude and marginalise the cleaners and security guards through the structures of having outsourced these workers to external labour providers.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University