This article presents Khongelani Hlungwani’s experiences of working as a labour broker worker and his struggle to become a permanent worker in Gauteng, South Africa. His account provides a lens through which to understand the shopfloor divisions between permanent and labour broker workers. These divisions are, as Hlungwani’s account demonstrates, compounded by a trade union movement that largely sidelines the interests of precarious workers in favour of permanent workers. This has led many workers, like Hlungwani, to be distrustful of trade unions. Thus, when new labour rights were introduced in 2015, which provided an impetus for labour broker workers to organise, many, like Hlungwani, chose to do so outside of trade unions. The article demonstrates how it was possible, in the South African context, to utilise the institutional power of new labour rights to build associational power outside of trade unions. The article provides insight into both the strength and the fragility of these forms of organising through an account of the strike that Hlungwani participated in in solidarity with unionised workers at his workplace.

本文介绍了 Khongelani Hlungwani 作为劳务中介工作者的经历以及他在南非豪登成为永久工人的努力。他的叙述提供了一个镜头，通过它可以了解永久工人和劳务经纪人之间的车间划分。正如 Hlungwani 的描述所表明的那样，这些分歧因工会运动而加剧，该运动在很大程度上将不稳定工人的利益置于一边，而支持长期工人。这导致许多工人，如 Hlungwani，对工会不信任。因此，当 2015 年引入新的劳工权利时，这为劳工经纪人工人的组织提供了动力，许多人，如 Hlungwani，选择在工会之外这样做。这篇文章展示了在南非的背景下，这是如何可能的，利用新劳工权利的制度力量，在工会之外建立结社力量。这篇文章通过对 Hlungwani 参与罢工以声援其工作场所的工会工人的描述，深入了解了这些组织形式的力量和脆弱性。