The insourcing process at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) has been successfully concluded and the last cohort of 640 cleaning staff became new UJ employees as they commence their service on Saturday, 1 April 2017.
Since the process commenced in 2015, the University accelerated the insourcing of outsourced workers, with improved working conditions and benefits extended to their children. Outsourced workers and their children who qualify for further studies enjoy the same benefit as all University employees where they are exempt from the payment of tuition fees.
“The University unequivocally supported the quest to provide decent working conditions, fair wages and improved benefits for these outsourced workers. This is evident with the insourcing of Gardening and Grounds, Security Services and Cleaning Services which were traditionally delivered as outsourced services,” says Ms Tumi Mketi, Deputy Vice Chancellor: Employees and Student Affairs, UJ.
Ms Mketi points out that much work on the insourcing process has been undertaken since the establishment of the inclusive Insourcing Task Team in November 2015. “The University set a target to finalise the insourcing of all concerned workers by the end of June 2017and we are proud that this deadline was achieved and concluded two months ahead of time.”
A well-considered insourcing plan was developed which included an extensive fact finding analysis to determine the appropriate operating model, considering best practice in effective and efficient functioning in the implementation plan of insourcing.
The University insourced the workers in phases. The first phase involved the adherence to the criteria determined in terms of the agreement entered into in November 2015 and in specific, the following:
- Employees who were permanently employed by service providers and who provided services to the University as per the agreement and commitment during November 2015: and
- Employees who have permanent residential status ; and/or confirmed South African Citizenship.
Ms Mketi concludes: “A total of 38 gardening and Grounds workers were the first to have been insourced in June 2016, followed by 378 Security Service workers in October 2016. The insourcing process is now concluded by the inclusion of the cleaning services staff. We are pleased to bring these workers into the UJ staff complement, which saw some doubling their monthly income. This step has gone a long way to improving the standard of living of the workers and their families.”