International Metal Workers - Put Permanent Jobs First

Put permanent jobs first!
Metalworker unions around the world are preparing to take action against the rise of precarious employment from 3 to 10 October 2009, in conjunction with the ITUC's World Day for Decent Work on 7 October 2009, other Global Union Federations and the European Metalworkers' Federation.

This October the International Metalworkers' Federation is taking the fight to governments, calling on them to ensure equal rights for precarious workers and to strengthen legislation to prevent employers from using precarious employment in place of permanent and direct employment.

"The economic crisis has made this demand all the more urgent, not only because precarious jobs have been the first to be lost, but because there is a real risk that employers will use the crisis as a justification to replace permanent jobs with precarious jobs," said IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina.

"We have seen governments rush to protect capital by providing bailout funds. But governments must also protect workers and ensure that employers can't treat them as a disposable commodity," he argued.

This October, IMF and its affiliates around the world are calling on governments to:

Restrict temporary and contract work to cases of genuine need
Guarantee equal pay for precarious workers and their right to join a union
Require long-term temporary jobs to be converted to permanent jobs
The massive growth of precarious employment has brought negative social and economic consequences for people everywhere.

That's why workers throughout the world are uniting against precarious work.