News

On September 16-17 in Buenos Aires, 37 youth representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Barbados, the US, Colombia, Nicaraqua and Uruguay discussed temporary agency work and issues youth face in the region. The event was supported by the F. Ebert Foundation.

Giedre Lelyte, UNI TAW Head of department, and  Briceida Gonzalez, Regional Director of UNI Americas, opened the meeting. Young unionists heard abouth the activities of UNI TAW on the global level as well as statistics on temp agency work and the ways to regulate it. They shared experiences from their countries, talked about challenges to unionise young temp agency workers and pointed our inequalities thise workers faced. Members from temp agencies in Argentina said they were not able to use the canteen where permanent workers ate lunch and were not provided with work clothes (in Adecco Argentina). 

Youth representatives also had a possibility to hear from the employers' representatives. Omar Avila from CLETT&A (Ciett's regional structure for Americas) described TAW and how it helped youth to enter the labour market. Young people had lots of questions and remarks debating if temporary agency work really was the best form of employment and if it gave enough security for young people. A few cases of agencies' misconduct in the region was described and it was agreed to continue having discussions and exchange of information with the agency employers.

On the second day youth discussed the way forward and planned actions for the coming year.