Temporary Agency Work: What the unions expect from the ILO
Last October, the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA) launched a new study on temporary agency work in eight Latin American countries with the support of the ILO Bureau for Workers' Activities (ACTRAV). The study which had been carried out during 2012-2013, highlights in particular the need to counter the expansion of agency work and to set limits to outsourcing strategies. In this context, union representatives explain what they expect from the ILO with regard to Convention 181 and, more broadly, to short-term employment agencies.
“We want to promote the ratification of the Private Employment Agencies Convention (C 181) and technical advice should be given to governments and the unions on legislative regulation. We also want the unions to negotiate with enterprises the reduction of precarious work.
From TUCA's perspective, one aspect to note is that the union strategy on temporary work agencies (TWAs) includes a central chapter directly linked to our recurrent theme of collective bargaining by sector / branch, avoiding fragmentation at the enterprise level. Of course, employment of agency workers presents a challenge for the trade union, because such negotiation takes place at the level of the contracting enterprise, not the transferee company. TUCA prioritized trade union action on (TWAs) when it defined the themes of its programme on the Trade Union Self-Reform Process. TUCA started with outsourced workers, and already has several analyses and proposals which it will publish in 2014 in a publication as part of the Campaign for Freedom of Association, Collective Bargaining and the Trade Union Self-Reform Process, which started on 8 August 2013 in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Progress will also be made throughout 2014 on the topic of outsourcing via subcontracting. TUCA will fully support the efforts of Global Unions, because such forms of labour flexibility must be limited in order to increase decent work in our societies via the promotion of ILO Recommendation No. 91.”
Esther Busser, Assistant Director ITUC-CSI Geneva Office
“We consider that the ILO should work in relation to the TWAs for the promotion of collective bargaining, in particular sectoral bargaining for the conclusion of collective agreements that can limit the number and duration of employment of agency workers in an enterprise as well as ensure equal treatment of agency workers in terms of wages and working conditions. The International Labour Conference (ILC) has adopted conclusions on social dialogue at its June session this year, which provide for a large work programme on collective bargaining, including the promotion of Recommendation No.91 on the extension of collective agreements with an aim to include workers in non-standard forms of employment in its coverage.
The ILO should also assist constituents to develop national legislation and policies to regulate temporary work agencies and limit their activities in countries where they exist.
Finally, I hope that the ILO will Increase research and the collection of statistics on private employment agencies, the number of workers dispatched by these agencies and analyze the impact of agency work on the ability of agency workers to organize and to bargain collectively. Bearing in mind that statistics outside Europe are limited and incomplete". Peter Rossman, Communications Director- IUF (International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Cafetering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’Association)
“The IUF and the global unions have a common set of principles which identifies the expansion of precarious work, including agency work, as one of the primary forces in recent years for undermining wages and working conditions and restricting or eliminating the ability of a growing number of workers worldwide to join unions and effectively negotiate the terms and conditions of their employment with their real employers, i.e. the agencies' clients ("user enterprises"). The massive replacement of direct, open-ended employment with disposable jobs is thus linked to the growth of poverty and inequality.
In the face of growing inequality, the ILO in our view should be working to strengthen standards and identify the sources eroding union membership and collective bargaining coverage in order to promote its extension. The ILO can do this by building on established principles, Conventions and jurisprudence to clearly delineate the agencies’ role in corroding standards and to define strict limits for the employment of agency labour from a rights-based perspective. Convention 181 exists to protect workers, not to promote the expansion of the agencies in the guise of promoting decent work. The Convention has to be restored to its original function”.
