Read this article in:
19 October, 1999The growing informal sector is posing a serious threat to the whole industrial relations system and all sectors of the economy are concerned, including the metal industry.
According to studies conducted by the ILO, 80% of new jobs in Latin America were created in the so-called informal sector between 1990 and 1994.
In Africa, the ILO estimates that 60% of the urban labour force is employed in the informal sector, while in Asia it is between 40% and 50% of the entire population.
In India, more than 90% of the people are in the informal sector.
These figures were published at the International Labour Organisation's International Symposium on Trade Unions and the Informal Sector, which took place in Geneva on October 18-22, 1999.
All sectors of the economy are concerned, including the metal industry.
What is the informal sector?
This is a sector where anybody can set up his own business without any control and without submitting his operation to any national or international legislation.
This is a paradise for liberal thinkers who believe that the so-called "market-forces" will take care of all problems.
The reality, though, is totally different.
In fact, the informal sector is one of the most tightly-controlled segments of the economy - not by laws, but by criminals and the Mafia.
You do not start cleaning windscreens at a road crossing in Europe without permission from the organisation that controls the area.
Equally, you will not be allowed to shine shoes in Latin America unless the boss gives his OK.
You won't be able to sell your vegetables in the daily market of any of the big African cities without bribing somebody.
The same applies in Asia and East Europe as well.
For the metalworkers, two new factors are creating similar problems: outsourcing and subcontracting. Working conditions are uncontrolled and no collective agreements cover workers in these two new sectors.
New categories of workers have been created to work with outsourced and/or subcontracted jobs:
- part-time workers,
- part-time with short-term contract workers,
- contracted workers,
- self-employed workers.
All these categories exist at the same time in the same company.
Individual contracts are signed, and no union is needed - according to the company.
This, together with the fact that more and more workers will be employed in small and medium-sized companies, constitutes a new challenge for the IMF.
We have to face the challenge and respond to it in the best possible manner.
There are areas in France where most of the metalworkers are working with short-term contracts for both part-time and full-time workers. And this is not an exception.
We know of large TNCs that have subcontracted the whole production to self-employed and firms which hire manpower. This tendency is a serious threat to the whole industrial relations system which we have built up over many years.
Our response can only be one:
Organise, organise and organise.
In Africa, the ILO estimates that 60% of the urban labour force is employed in the informal sector, while in Asia it is between 40% and 50% of the entire population.
In India, more than 90% of the people are in the informal sector.
These figures were published at the International Labour Organisation's International Symposium on Trade Unions and the Informal Sector, which took place in Geneva on October 18-22, 1999.
All sectors of the economy are concerned, including the metal industry.
What is the informal sector?
This is a sector where anybody can set up his own business without any control and without submitting his operation to any national or international legislation.
This is a paradise for liberal thinkers who believe that the so-called "market-forces" will take care of all problems.
The reality, though, is totally different.
In fact, the informal sector is one of the most tightly-controlled segments of the economy - not by laws, but by criminals and the Mafia.
You do not start cleaning windscreens at a road crossing in Europe without permission from the organisation that controls the area.
Equally, you will not be allowed to shine shoes in Latin America unless the boss gives his OK.
You won't be able to sell your vegetables in the daily market of any of the big African cities without bribing somebody.
The same applies in Asia and East Europe as well.
For the metalworkers, two new factors are creating similar problems: outsourcing and subcontracting. Working conditions are uncontrolled and no collective agreements cover workers in these two new sectors.
New categories of workers have been created to work with outsourced and/or subcontracted jobs:
- part-time workers,
- part-time with short-term contract workers,
- contracted workers,
- self-employed workers.
All these categories exist at the same time in the same company.
Individual contracts are signed, and no union is needed - according to the company.
This, together with the fact that more and more workers will be employed in small and medium-sized companies, constitutes a new challenge for the IMF.
We have to face the challenge and respond to it in the best possible manner.
There are areas in France where most of the metalworkers are working with short-term contracts for both part-time and full-time workers. And this is not an exception.
We know of large TNCs that have subcontracted the whole production to self-employed and firms which hire manpower. This tendency is a serious threat to the whole industrial relations system which we have built up over many years.
Our response can only be one:
Organise, organise and organise.