Agency workers and their equivocal roles – wandering employees?

Agency workers (AWs) were originally employed on a substitutional and short-term contract basis, but recently they are found to be employed on a long-term purpose in Nigeria. Although agency labour helps solve recruitment challenges, it correspondingly erodes employment relations and causes conflicts across employers, trade unions and agency workers. As such, the current research aimed to examine the rise of AWs and analyse its influence on the union’s representation. The samples were 36 respondents (management, agency workers and trade unions) recruited from three oil multinational companies in Nigeria and were interviewed. Research data were analysed through thematic analysis and NVivo, revealing three important findings. First, AWs were often asked to take the posts which used to be taken by the permanent staff, but without the right to join the union. Second, the unions did not welcome AWs and concerned its implication on the recruitment of permanent staff. Third, AWs were reluctant to join the unions as their contract might not be renewed. Research findings brought new insights into the literature of agency workers. Managers are reminded that AWs are suffering from the issues identified above. Any management strategies will not reach their maximum effect unless these issues are rectified.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Labor History on 28 Jan 2021, available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2021.1876844