Consenting to servitude : a case study of restaurant workers in Gauteng.
Date
2013-10-02
Authors
Loonat, Atiyyah
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Abstract
Due to high levels of globalization and outsourcing of employment an important aspect
emerges which is the concept of decent work. This concept is important in that the
struggle for many companies to stay afloat under global competition requires the cutting
of costs. The cost which is the most easy to manipulate is that of labour. Through global
competitiveness companies often increase working hours, decrease wages and decrease
benefits for employees. This has caused increased attention to the idea and concept of
decent work. This leads to the problem of providing and assuring decent work on a global
scale.
Decent work is an objective of the International Labour Organization (ILO) which aims
to provide equitable employment to people of all spheres. This goal is wide and deals
with nine indicators which are quantitative in nature. However these aspects do not deal
with the subjective measures which pertain to employment. These subjective measures
are as important as the quantitative measures. To better attain the goal of decent work this
report argues that there is a need for the incorporation of these subjective measures when
determining the level of decent employment. For the purposes of this research report the
subjective measures are collectively termed job satisfaction. However while this
combination of objective and subjective indicators better reflects working conditions,
there is a need for more comprehensive concepts in understanding vulnerable work. In
order to develop this deeper understanding of vulnerable work. This research report
utilizes various literature in in the sociology of work .
The restaurant industry in Gauteng is used as the site for this research report as a means
of illustrating the pitfalls to the narrowly defined concepts of decent work and job
satisfaction. This industry is particularly interesting as it is very different from other
sectors as it is marked by interactive service work that involves high levels of emotional
labour. Tips play a large role in supplementing the workers income.
Tips , the report argues, is a means of workers consenting to servitude as they actively
participate in their exploitation through conforming to the enterprises interests. This is
not merely done through the system of tipping but also through their performance of
emotional labour which is often increased in order to play these “games “which allow for
higher tips. Consenting to servitude is not only the acceptance of exploitation but also the
creation of a submissive and subservient work force.
The notion of consenting to servitude is what lacks in both concepts. Exploitation plays a
large role in whether a job is deemed decent or not but it is largely ignored within both
the concepts of decent work and job satisfaction. Instead it is necessary to go beyond
these two concepts and draw on the body of social theory on the world of work such as
Burawoy and Foucault, if one wants to explain the nature of work and workers responses
in the hospitality industry in Gauteng.
This illustrates that every workplace is different and requires differing sets of
indicators. The concepts of job satisfaction and decent work although incomplete on their
own carry various advantages and cannot merely be dismissed.