Dodgy labour market dichotomy: the repercussions of sneaky labour intermediaries on employees’ constitutional rights

Sheikh, Abdullah; Butt, Atif; Hussian, Basharat; Timmons, Stephen

Abstract

Purpose: The flexibility inherent in temporary agency work allows employers to cut labour cost in a variety of ways. Recurring themes in the employment literature draw attention to the duality of the labour market rooted in type-of-contract segmentation. This duality in the labour market carries with it a number of undesirable consequences.
Design: Drawing on qualitative data from six case studies in Pakistan, this paper reports on an in-depth study of deceitful labour market intermediaries, through which employers attempt to bypass statutory obligations concerning workers’ constitutional rights.
Findings: A case study inquiry, based on qualitative interviews, suggested that the agencies were ‘created’ or ‘arranged’ to illustrate indirectness of employment relationship by misclassifying effectively permanent employees as ‘agency workers’. The evidence points towards a growing trend for agencies to be simply a sham arrangement.
Originality: This study broadened our comprehension about the nature of temporary agency employment and subsequent labour market duality in Pakistan, beyond the traditional functional model of legitimate labor market intermediaries. A picture of precarious work from Pakistan being a large and growing economy shares many features in common with the rest of the world. These findings offer useful policy and social implications for national and multinational companies.

Citation

Sheikh, A., Butt, A., Hussian, B., & Timmons, S. (2021). Dodgy labour market dichotomy: the repercussions of sneaky labour intermediaries on employees’ constitutional rights. Labor History, 62(1), 91-107. https://doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2020.1864308

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 10, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Dec 28, 2020
• Publication Date: Jan 2, 2021
• Deposit Date: Jan 5, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 29, 2022
• Journal: Labor History
• Print ISSN: 0023-656X
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-9702
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 62
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 91-107
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2020.1864308
• Keywords: Employment Agencies, Workers’ Statutory Rights, Dubious Employment Intermediaries, Labor relations
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5200564
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0023656X.2020.1864308
• Additional Information: Peer Review Statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope.; Aim & Scope: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=clah20; Received: 2020-10-01; Accepted: 2020-12-10; Published: 2020-12-28