GENEVA: All sectors of the economy, including the metal industry, are concerned with the so-called informal sector, where anyone can set up his own business without any controls and without submitting his operation to any national or international legislation. Workers have no collective agreements and their working conditions go uncontrolled.
According to ILO statistics shown at its on-going International Symposium on Trade Unions and the Informal Sector, large percentages of developing countries' working populations are now employed in the informal sector, and the numbers are growing.
For metalworkers, two new factors are posing real threats: outsourcing and subcontracting. Even large transnational companies are subcontracting their whole production.
The IMF response to this growing trend is clear: organise! Read the entire column under IMF Opinion.