Casual Workers Struggle to Find Work After World Cup Building Boom

Union officials from various sectors in South Africa are claiming that despite the recent boom in construction work due to World Cup stadia preparation, the majority of workers were casual workers and are not likely to find further employment in the public sector.

According to the director of human resources at the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (Safcec), Muller Uys, about 70 000 people have done civil construction work for the football spectacle. This included labour on stadiums, the Gautrain and on minor building jobs.

"Of these 70 000, around 70% were local casual labour, which is a legal stipulation, and the rest were skilled or core workers. We have to move the local component around so that they can have regular work. The core people return to their companies and are assigned other projects."

Safcec economist Pierre Blaauw said it was difficult to put a number to all 2010 constructors countrywide but there were about 130 000, with about 91000 being casuals.

South Africa: World Cup Stadium Building Boom Proves Short-Lived
Business Day
February 3, 2010