Working conditions
Americas: Unions launched a new study on Temporary Agency Work
A new study concerning temporary agency work in eight countries in Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Panama and Uruguay) was been launched in Geneva by the Trade Unions Confederation of Americas (TUCA) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), with support of ILO Bureau for Workers Activities (ACTRAV).
GENEVA- A new study concerning Temporary Agency Work within eight countries in Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Panama and Uruguay) has been launched in Geneva by the Trade Unions Confederation of Americas (TUCA) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) within the framework of its campaign on freedom of association, collective bargaining and trade union self-reform.
This study launched with the support of ILO Bureau for Workers Activities, ACTRAV/Norwegian Project “The Trade Unions for the Social Justice”, was a follow up to resolutions adopted at the second TUCA Congress (Foz, April 2012) and also responded to issues raised at the Global Dialogue Forum on private employment agencies (Geneva, October 2011), calling for more research on the actual use of employment agencies in both developed and developing countries.
The main conclusions of the study realised during 2012-2013 underlined that, there are several needs to:
Within this framework, Unions calls upon the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to give more assistance in terms of capacity building in order to address the challenge of precarious work in Latin America and Caribbean countries.
“We want advocacy for the ratification of the Private Employment Agencies Convention (C 181) and the technical advice for the States and Unions for legislative regulation. We also want the Unions to negotiate with the enterprises the reduction of precarious work”, said Victor Baez, General Secretary of TUCA.
This study is the first input from the Trade Unions research with detailed information about the temporary work agencies and precarious work.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Hilda Sanchez
Senior Specialist of Workers Activities
Desk Officer for Americas
Tel: +41 22 799 68 81
Email: sanchezh[at]ilo.org
This study launched with the support of ILO Bureau for Workers Activities, ACTRAV/Norwegian Project “The Trade Unions for the Social Justice”, was a follow up to resolutions adopted at the second TUCA Congress (Foz, April 2012) and also responded to issues raised at the Global Dialogue Forum on private employment agencies (Geneva, October 2011), calling for more research on the actual use of employment agencies in both developed and developing countries.
The main conclusions of the study realised during 2012-2013 underlined that, there are several needs to:
- develop strategies to counter the expansion of agency work and set limits as part of the strategy against outsourcing
- identify gaps in legislation and improve labour inspection
- extend the coverage of collective agreements to agency workers to ensure equal treatment.
- limit the use and duration of agency work both through legislation and through sectoral collective agreements
- refine trade union strategies through country exchanges based on national experiences especially in Argentina and Uruguay
- analyse the various models of outsourcing and subcontracting that are developed to find effective ways to respond to these
- more systematical collection of statistics on the use of employment agencies.
Within this framework, Unions calls upon the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to give more assistance in terms of capacity building in order to address the challenge of precarious work in Latin America and Caribbean countries.
“We want advocacy for the ratification of the Private Employment Agencies Convention (C 181) and the technical advice for the States and Unions for legislative regulation. We also want the Unions to negotiate with the enterprises the reduction of precarious work”, said Victor Baez, General Secretary of TUCA.
This study is the first input from the Trade Unions research with detailed information about the temporary work agencies and precarious work.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Hilda Sanchez
Senior Specialist of Workers Activities
Desk Officer for Americas
Tel: +41 22 799 68 81
Email: sanchezh[at]ilo.org