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19 May, 2010Organizing the electronics industry has long proven to be a difficult challenge for trade unions. Unionization rates remain extremely low in an industry where precarious employment is rife and labour abuses abound. To make matters worse, the electronics industry has been one of the hardest hit by the economic crisis, bringing job losses and additional downward pressure on pay and conditions. But at IMF's recent conference for the ICT, Electrical and Electronics industries on 'Organizing, Trade Union Rights and Sustainability', IMF affiliates reasserted their commitment to organizing electronics workers and improving their working conditions.
Text / Jenny Holdcroft, IMF Director, ICT, Electrical and Electronics, Aerospace
Impacts of the economic crisis
In its Information Economy Report 2009, UNCTAD notes a dramatic decline in exports of ICT goods. The fall in exports has been reflected in significant job losses across the sector, with major companies laying off thousands or even tens of thousands of workers. Other employment impacts have included pay freezes, cuts of social benefits and an increased shift from permanent to precarious jobs.
The impact of the crisis has been felt particularly in Asia where the trade in ICT goods has been down by 25 to 40 per cent, although countries such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China are now experiencing a more rapid upturn.
There is no doubt that a significant percentage of any new jobs growth will be through precarious work. The electronics industry already has the greatest percentage of precarious employment of all IMF sectors, according to responses by affiliates to an IMF survey conducted in 2007. During the economic crisis, many thousands of precarious workers lost their jobs and there is now a real risk that employers will increase their reliance on precarious employment as a means of reducing wage costs and avoiding severance payments in the future.