Strategies to Challenge Contract Labour Adopted

The 20-million-member ICEM is embarking on a major international campaign to challenge the increasing use by multinationals of contract and agency labour. The Global Union Federation (GUF) for the energy, mining, chemical and processed industries’ sectors held a conference on the subject in Brussels 16-17 September attended by 120 trade union leaders from ICEM affiliates in 35 countries.

“We developed a consensus that there is something we can do that will have an affect on this adverse trend to permanent employment,” said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. “This working conference developed a specific set of strategies which we intend to implement among our 400 affiliates on the issue of contract and agency labour.”

Foremost among strategies will be to insist on the right to consultation, negotiation and ultimately agreement prior to any company entering into a commercial contract that affects the employment status or conditions of permanent workers. The ICEM has vowed to dedicate the necessary resources so its affiliates are equipped to bring the issue before multinational firms in collective negotiations.

The issue will become forefront on ICEM’s global agenda. “We will embark on a meaningful, long-term campaign to assist out affiliates to meet the challenges of contract and agency labour,” said Higgs. Although the use of such labour is not a new phenomenon, it is a growing concern in developing countries and nations which have economies based on structured, long-term employment.

In that respect, the campaign will also be taken to the UN’s International Labour Organization to develop dialogue and language addressing the social effects on communities by the use of contract and agency labour. “If there is one thing that undermines the declared position of the ILO’s ‘Decent Work’ agenda, it is the excessive and uncontrolled use of contract and agency labour,” stated Higgs.

 The conference also adopted measures to take the issue to the OECD, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and other relevant inter-governmental agencies. The ICEM as well will develop educational programs and materials so affiliates can effectively spell out the ill-effects of temporary labour before their local and national units of government.

Strategies developed at the ICEM conference benefited from trade unionists from developed countries that have faced the issue in their collective agreements now for 10-15 years. Rapid globalization and economic transformation is now taking the trend of non-permanent employment and contract labour to developing regions of Africa, Asia, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe.

The ICEM has pledged to establish a database on global service-providing companies, and will track these companies in their performance on workers’ rights, health and safety and other criteria. The Brussels-based GUF will also serve as a clearinghouse for affiliates to exchange contractual information they have with service providers who do maintain collective agreements with trade unions.

But Higgs stressed that the focal point of the campaign will be aimed at primary employers in all ICEM sectors.

The 16-17 September conference used an in-depth working paper based on research drawn from the experiences and interviews on contract and agency labour by leaders of ICEM affiliates over the past six months. The paper, produced by Ceclia Mather of the UK, will now be updated to reflect the conclusions and strategies set forth at the conference, and will serve as the guide for this ICEM initiative.