News

The Ciett (the International Confederation of Private Employment Agencies) annual conference was attended by representatives from more than 20 countries and was opened by Marcelino Pena Costa, the president of the hosting organisation APESPE (the Portuguese Association of Companies from Employment Private Sector) and the President of Ciett, Horacio De Martini.



The Portuguese Minister of Labour Vieira da Silva spoke about how the labour markets were reacting to the financial and economic crises and what should be the role of governments in relation with the private employment services in order to overcome the difficulties. Participants could listen to an interesting presentation by Dr. Carl Rohde, the Professor and researcher of cultural sociology at the University of Utrecht as well as to listen to Vitalino Canas, the Portuguese Ombudsman for the AW Sector on the importance of the relationship between agency workers and their employment agencies in times of economic difficulties.



Participants also took part in a few rounds of workshops where they exchanged experiences and discussed how improved

health & safety at work could contribute to the development of agency work, how the sector could contribute to a better match in the labour market, etc.



The cooperation between Ciett and UNI in the framework of the European social dialogue, research and employees' training as well as developing co-operation based on the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding between two organisations, were highly regarded.



There was also an awards ceremony being held for the best temporary agencies employees who gave live testimony on how agency work helped their integration to the labour market.



UNI TAW Global Union was represented by Research Assistant Giedre Lelyte. Giedre participated in the panel discussion on the role the private employment agency industry could play to improve the functioning of the labour market in strained economic times. On behalf of UNI she emphasised the importance of recognition and equal treatment of agency workers, the need to cover them by collective agreements, providing them with skills and necessary training as well as noted the importance of joint efforts to implement the UNI-Ciett Memorandum of Understanding on the national level.