Casualisation and Decent Work in Access Bank PLC

ABSTRACT. The changing nature of work arrangement has taken the form of flexibility. The flexibility has brought about destabilizing and exploitative labour practices which are characterized by temporary or casual work. Consequently, workers are on daily basis are subject to job instability, lower wages and more dangerous working conditions as they are denied rights and benefits of regular workers. It is against this background that this study examines casualisation and Decent Work in Access Bank Plc. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select a sample of 300 respondents from the selected branches of the bank in Lagos Metropolis. The bank branches were stratified into 3 regions and 3 branches were randomly selected from each of the regions. In order to complements the quantitative data, 30 in-depth interviews were conducted among some selected workers in the bank. The study found that the factors responsible for casualisation in the bank include the need to reduce cost by Management; the availability of cheap labour; the desperation to get jobs on the part of the employees; and lack of protective laws. The study therefore concludes that government should expedite action to counter this wide spread exploitation of workers within all sectors of the economy.Keywords: casualisation, decent work, access bank, temporary employment, flexibility.1INTRODUCTIONWork environments have been going through dramatic changes as a result of globalization over the past three decades (Mittelman, 2000; Smith, 2001; Auer, 2005; Fapohunda, 2012). Organizations are now moving away from securing jobs and economic protection for workers. Workers on daily basis are subject to job instability, lower wages and more dangerous working conditions as they are denied rights and benefits of regular workers (International Labour Rights Forum, 2001). Casualisation of employment has continued to be a significant part of the employment arrangement that are collectively known as nonstandard, contingent, atypical, precarious and alternative work arrangements in international labour law (Kalleberg, 1999). This is done deliberately to pave way for irregular forms of employment, in order to avoid labour surplus during economic downturns which negates the decent work practices (Kallerberg, Reskin and Hundson, 2000; Haspels et al, 2001). Decent work has been defined by ILO (1999) as productive work in which rights are protected, which generates an adequate income, with adequate social protection. It also means sufficient work, in the sense that all should have full access to income-earning opportunities. It marks the road to economic and social development, a road in which employment, income and social protection can be achieved without compromising workers' rights and social standards.However, studies have found that employers are now engaging more of flexible workers as alternatives to standard or permanent workers which contravene the fundamental principles and rights at work (Capelli & Neumark, 2004; Okafor, 2007; Adewumi, 2009: Okafor, 2012). In Nigeria, the problem of casualisation is prevailing in many organizations whether in indigenous, transnational or multi-national firms, either public or private industry, including telecommunications sector, oil and gas sector, power sector, banking sector (both old and new generation banks), education sector, and so on (Okougbo, 2004; Onyeonoru, 2004; Okafor, 2007; Idowu, 2010; Aduba, 2012). It is also clear that, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ensure the rights of workers in Nigeria. As noted by Adewumi & Adenugba (2010), this has been influenced by the dictate of emerging capitalist employment relations and this has led to unresolved conflict leading to frequent strikes by labour (Akanji, 2002).Casualisation has become a very topical and sensitive issue in Nigeria since the year 2000 when it was brought to the public's attention by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC). …