Business and training: Mike’ s message
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Take an Uber and catch a plumber?
For a long time, parents have been told not to worry if their children do not go to university. The story that they have been told is that there is far more money to be made in practical occupations for which there will always be a demand. And it certainly has seemed to be true.
By
Mike Muller
New buildings are constantly constructed where plumbing should be installed, and there are many, many old installations where something goes wrong and has to be fixed. While modular, quickfit, and prefabricated units will continue to make inroads, the maintenance side looks secure.
The question, though, is whether young Matthew or Mandla( or indeed Martha) wants a job that provides some form of security, or whether they are happy to work for themselves. Working for yourself often looks attractive until you discover the pleasures of the accounting and the admin and never being able to take a holiday. So, many people would actually prefer working for a boss.
Too often though, that is no longer an option. Whether it is pizza deliveries, Uber drivers or now plumbers, many companies avoid employing people; they prefer to contract them as‘ individual service providers’. That is fine while there is work on hand and everything is going well. But what happens when the wheels come off?
One answer comes from Britain, where plumber Gary Smith had sued Pimlico Plumbers— a case that went to the British Appeal Court. Pimlico Plumbers is a wellknown brand that provides call-out plumbing services in London, much like those South African companies whose phone numbers are drilled into our brains by regular( and very effective) radio advertising.
The 75 people in Pimlico’ s offices who took calls from customers, allocated work, collected payments from clients, and paid the plumbers were employees. However, according to the company, its plumbers were different. Although they were contracted to work a 40-hour week, they had to rent a company van and pay for the material they used on their jobs( and claim back from the company). If a client did not pay, the plumber took the fall, so it was quite an onerous arrangement. On top of that, the company took a handsome 50 % of the plumbers’ labour charges for themselves.
As Gary Smith’ s case showed, the worst of it was that, if someone got ill, the company turned its back. That was where the arrangement hit the wall. Even in a country like Britain with a public health service and a system of unemployment and disability benefits, it is much harder for individuals to manage the risks and challenges of a life at work than it is for a large organisation.
Gary Smith won his case. The British Courts decided that he was effectively an employee of Pimlico Plumbers and that the company owed him the protection that their office employees enjoyed. But the bigger question is whether we really want to live in a world where it really is every plumber for him- or herself. PA
Mike Muller
Mike Muller is a visiting adjunct professor at the Wits University School of Governance, and a former commissioner of the National Planning Commission and director general of Water Affairs.
The company had 125 plumbers in the field( down the manhole or crouched under the sink). But when Gary Smith had a heart attack, he was dismissed because he could not respond to calls. The question that was referred to the courts was whether Pimlico’ s people were employees or self-employed contractors.
But what happens when the wheels come off? www. plumbingafrica. co. za April 2017 Volume 23 I Number 2