A labour recruitment Code of Ethics has been launched to regulate labour brokers, the temporary employment services industry said on Friday.

Chief operations officer of the Confederation of Associations in the Private Employment Sector (CAPES) John Botha said: "The launch of the code of conduct for the industry formed part of a multi-tiered approach to professionalising the labour brokering industry."

At a launch hosted by the Services Seta in partnership with CAPES this week, Botha said the code was introduced to also ensure that self-regulation was effective and delivered fair and decent work for assignees.

This included the formation of a certification institute in partnership with the Services Seta.

There was also the establishment of an industry pension fund that will ensure that all temporary assignees who do not fall under established bargaining councils had access to an industry pension fund in future.

"We continue to establish various collective arrangements with unions to demonstrate that [the employment services industry] recognises and underwrites the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining," Botha said.

"The reality is that we need to forge a new and innovative arrangement in respect of unionisation, given that the traditional model of the unions is not easily applied to the modern workplace," he said.