Geneva 6 February 2013
To all affiliates of IndustriALL Global Union
STOP Precarious Work 2013
Dear Colleagues,
As precarious employment continues to spread throughout the globe, the Executive Committee of IndustriALL Global Union has looked at the next steps for IndustriALL’s global campaign to STOP Precarious Work, which will be integrated into all of its activities in 2013.
Global action
At its meeting in December, the IndustriALL Executive Committee decided to call on all affiliates to again mobilise their members to STOP Precarious Work, in conjunction with the World Day for Decent Work on 7 October 2013.
The decision was taken following the success of the first IndustriALL global action to STOP Precarious Work in October 2012. 150 affiliates from 46 countries reported that they took action, in line with the resolution adopted at IndustriALL’s founding Congress in Copenhagen. In many countries, IndustriALL affiliates came together in joint actions. Reports and photos from the actions can be seen on the IndustriALL website at http://www.industriall-union.org/actions-by-country.
Coordinated global action plays a vital role in IndustriALL’s campaign to STOP Precarious Work. It enables affiliates to link their struggles at national level to a global campaign and encourages more unions to take up the issue. Campaigning jointly against precarious work promotes unity between IndustriALL affiliates. Importantly, mass action by affiliates strengthens IndustriALL’s position in challenging the global institutions (ILO, OECD, IMF), MNCs and governments on precarious work.
The broader campaign
IndustriALL’s global campaign to STOP Precarious Work is integrated into all of its activities throughout the year. Common approaches and actions are being developed through regional and sectoral meetings and several company networks have already developed action plans to address precarious work.
Work will continue to be done to identify and target MNCs that overuse precarious employment or that refuse to make precarious workers permanent. IndustriALL will push for language on precarious work to be included in GFAs.
Actions against precarious work are developed through all of IndustriALL’s externally funded projects. The dedicated precarious work project provides the means to work directly with affiliates at national and regional level through a network of regional project coordinators and to support affiliate campaigns.
With the assistance of the project, unions have driven the development and adoption of legislation related to the use of precarious work in a number of countries. Using collective bargaining to deal with precarious work has become a priority for many affiliates in Asia, Latin America and Africa and there have been numerous successes in gaining permanent status for precarious workers and improving their working conditions. A particular focus has been on recruiting precarious workers and many unions have been able to increase their membership.
While the campaign will continue to support affiliates in all their struggles against precarious work, a few key priorities have been identified for 2013. A particular emphasis will be put on using global agreements and collective bargaining to limit precarious work, campaigning against legislative reforms that expand precarious work, and promoting legislation that restricts it. Organizing precarious workers continues to be a priority, as does reform of union structures to make this possible.
Resources
In October 2012, IndustriALL released a publication attacking the massive expansion of employment via agencies, labour brokers, dispatchers and contractors and the wholesale replacement of permanent, direct employment. ‘The Triangular Trap: Unions take action against agency labour’ exposes the lobbying efforts of the global agency industry body Ciett to remove legal restrictions on agency work. It is available in English, French, Spanish, Turkish and Indonesian on the IndustriALL website. IndustriALL will continue to use this publication in 2013 to raise awareness of the impacts of triangular employment relationships on workers’ rights.
All news about the campaign as well as campaign materials in a wide range of languages can be found on the website at http://www.industriall-union.org/issues/social-justice-and-globalization/stop-precarious-work.
I call on all IndustriALL affiliates to consider how your union’s actions against precarious work can be linked to the global campaign and to start planning now how you can participate in IndustriALL’s global mobilisation in October 2013. The massive spread of precarious work is a global problem and we must unite to fight against it. Join us in the global campaign and together we can STOP Precarious Work.
In unity,
Jyrki Raina
General Secretary