Phansi, Down with Labour Brokers (2018)

A South African story of casual (i.e. temp, contingent, precarious) workers, failed by an outdated industrial union movement. More than twenty years since the end of apartheid, disparate groups of mainly women workers for whom very little has changed - failed by the state, betrayed by an outdated and distracted trade union movement and subjugated by modern labour brokering practices - find solidarity through the work of an advice office run by a dying breed of ex-freedom fighters who have stuck to their liberation ideals rather than pursue lucrative positions in government or the private sector. Through processes of self-education and a sense of collectivism these women take on the might of multi-national corporate greed and through a series of small victories ultimately contribute greatly to rendering this class of cheap labour illegal in South Africa, while serving as a clarion call to similar classes of workers all over the world to stand up and fight for their rights.