13 May, 2010
The annual ICEM Asia-Pacific Regional Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) seminar took place in Singapore on 18-19 April. The seminar, hosted by the ICEM with the assistance of Germany’s Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES), brought together 52 delegates, including representatives of the ICEM, the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF), Public Services International (PSI), and Union Network International (UNI).
Union leaders and activists from 14 Asian countries, members of the Western European Team of experts from Denmark and Sweden, and representatives of the ICEM Secretariat and the FES attended the meeting, spoke about the impact of precarious employment in their countries, and shared strategies which they had developed to deal with CAL issues.
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda had been scheduled to attend the seminar, but was unable to do so because of the disruption to European flights caused by volcanic ash from Iceland.
Participants discussed how CAL is being used to undermine the right to freedom of association, by companies who are letting go of permanent staff and hiring temporary workers in their place. Participants also discussed how the global economic crisis is being used by multinational companies as an excuse to reduce their permanent workforce, despite the fact that CEOs are receiving ever increasing pay packages.
The participants proposed a number of next steps, including that unions should make CAL a priority issue and prioritise organising of CAL workers; that they should cooperate in campaigning at a national level for legislation which would make user enterprises responsible for agency workers;, and that collective bargaining should fully include CAL issues.
Participants also proposed that a workshop be arranged to discuss how dialogue can best be arranged with labour-hire agencies to assure that labour rights and standards are upheld.