Unions around the world mobilize against precarious work

Unions around the world have joined IndustriALL’s global campaign to STOP Precarious Work. From Argentina to Mali and from Palestine to Germany workers voices are being heard loud and clear.  Workers have taken to the streets in Burkina Faso, Colombia, Guinea, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan , Mali, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Thailand and many other countries. Elsewhere, unions raised awareness of the issues with their members, debated union responses to precarious work and sent letters to their governments demanding action. In many cases, affiliates have been successful in getting national media coverage of their actions. Click here to see where unions have been taking action. 

On 2 October, IndustriALL’s report ‘The Triangular Trap’ was released, attacking the massive expansion of the use of agency work and demanding direct employment. Unions have started using “The Triangular Trap” to inform their members and the public of this global threat to workers’ rights, and to strengthen their demands on government and employers.

In Australia, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) President Ged Kearney said that IndustriALL’s report showed how job agencies around the world were lobbying government to make it easier to cut workers rights.

In Turkey the report is being translated into Turkish by IndustriALL affiliate Petrol-Is for wide distribution to union members, while 36 members of the Textile, Knitting and Garment Industry Workers’ Union (TEKSIF) who were recently dismissed from Texim textile factory in Istanbul distributed the press release on the report to the workers at the factory.

Meanwhile, affiliates of IndustriAll European Trade Union responded to its call to  “stand up for industry as the bedrock of the European economy” in a mobilization from 8-12 October. News of actions has been pouring in from unions in Europe. The full list of participating countries can be seen here.