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MEXICO: On August 8, after negotiations between the miners' union and the company on adjustments to their collective agreement ended in deadlock, Section 271 of the National Miners' Union in the industrial port of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán decided to go on strike.The workforce comprises 3,500 union members, 1,500 contract workers and more than 2,000 supervisory staff and suppliers, totalling approximately 7,000 workers, all of whom will benefit from any agreement reached, said the union.Negotiations on adjustments to the collective agreement have been taking place for more than two months and were extended for a further week at the company's request. Negotiations on the union side are being coordinated by the National Executive Committee, led by Napoleón Gómez Urrutia. The United Steelworkers (USW) of the United States and Canada, a leading industrial union in both these countries, and which together have more than 14,000 members working for ArcelorMittal, sent the Mexican Miners' Union at Lázaro Cárdenas a letter of support and solidarity in which they say: &quot;we believe that the world's largest steelmaker is in a position to provide its workers with a decent standard of living and decent working conditions. We also believe that the use of non-unionised contract workers undermines the conditions previously negotiated by our unions. We support you in your struggle and we are ready to provide any assistance that we are able to give you.&quot;The miners' union said it remains ready to continue negotiating &quot;with the aim of normalising the situation as soon as possible and resuming work at ArcelorMittal installations so that the conflict does not continue and the demands of the workers at the company are met.&quot;&nbsp;

Workers at ArcelorMittal are on strike after negotiations on adjustments to the collective agreement ended in deadlock. Steelworkers in the United States and Canada have offered their support for the action taken by the miners' union.

Strike at ArcelorMittal, Mexico

INDIA:  After the death of six shipbreaking workers in Alang on August 4, the local trade union representing 5,000 shipbreaking workers called on the Factories Inspector to investigate the incident and the Chief Minister and High Court of Gujarat to undertake a judicial enquiry and immediately intervene on the health, safety, welfare and environment at the shipbreaking yards.The six workers died on the spot from burns sustained while working in the engine room of a vessel being dismantled at plot number 24-0 of the Alang shipbreaking yards. No precaution had been taken by the employer to ensure the engine room was free from gas and fit for cutting operations.  Measures taken after the accident were also completely inadequate.Alang Sosiya Ship Recycling and General Workers' Association (ASSRGWA), representing the workers, demanded that the government of Gujarat ensures:<ul><li>Strict compliance with the Supreme Court of India's directions on safe ship recycling issued in September 2007;</li><li>A judicial inquiry into the fatal accident that occurred on August 4, 2009 causing the deaths of six workers;</li><li>Compensation of a million rupees (US$20,000) to the family of each deceased worker; and</li><li>Representation of the Workers' Association on the Gujarat Maritime Board and other regulating and enforcement authorities.</li></ul>The Workers' Association had previously represented the workers before a committee of technical experts on shipbreaking, which resulted in the Supreme Court directing various government bodies and stakeholders to take effective measures on health and safety, welfare and the environment. In August 2008, the Workers' Association made representation to the Gujarat Maritime Board requesting compliance with the Court's ruling.&quot;Though there are regulating and enforcement authorities, no adequate attention is being paid by these organisations to the suffering of the thousands of shipbreaking workers,&quot; said ASSRGWA President Shanti Patel at a press conference on August 11.&quot;The apathy and almost criminal negligence on the part of the stakeholders in complying with rulings on health, safety, welfare and the environment is instrumental in the increase in the number of fatal and major accidents in the shipbreaking yards in Alang,&quot; said Patel.Vidyadhar Rane, ASSRGWA General Secretary, has submitted complaints to various relevant authorities and visited the family members of the victims offering the union's full support.

A trade union representing shipbreaking workers calls on authorities to enforce health and safety after six workers die in Alang on August 4, 2009.

Six die at shipbreaking yard in India

Financial capital has come to dominate productive capital. Short-term speculative investment has gained the upper hand at the expense of long-term investment in job creation, skills development, research and innovation, and sustainable development. The current food, fuel and financial crises, are neo-liberal policy failures, that have drastic consequences for working people and the poor, and that are now dragging the world economy into a severe recession. Over the past few years the globalisation of finance has taken on a new dimension with the proliferation of novel speculative products that escape monitoring and regulation. Speculative funds are fed by banks and institutional investors such as insurance companies, mutual funds and pension funds. Some part of private equity assets also come from sovereign wealth funds with huge resources at their disposal, and with a deliberate lack of transparency as to their political and economic objectives, as well as to their practices and investment strategies.Never before has the influence of private equity and hedge funds on markets and enterprises been so strong.  Many of them are located in tax havens, which deals another blow to already declining public income from corporate taxation. The financial economy based on short-termism and high rates of return is increasingly disconnected from the real economy with devastating consequences for workers.Today, hardly any company is immune from takeover by private equity funds. In most cases, these funds take control of enterprises without any industrial plans, and for the sole objective of boosting share prices and extracting maximum returns over a short period. The potentially high short-term gains attract institutional investors, including pension funds. Thus workers who have put their retirement savings in these pension funds find themselves unwittingly involved in speculative finance that is destroying jobs. Many workers have already watched their savings dissolved by corporate scandals.    The instability of the world's financial markets is not just a problem due to a few speculators - the whole system requires new rules.

Preface

3. GLOBAL SOLIDARITY IN ACTION

3.3 Defend and protect workers rights

1. OUR MISSION

2. THE WORLD TODAY

2.1 Profits over people

2.2 Unemployment and job insecurity

2.3 Unions under attack

2.4 Fundamental workers´ rights denied

2.5 Spreading influence of Transnational Corporations

2.6 World trade system in disarray

2.7 An unsustainable future

2.8 Alliances, resistance and opportunities

3.1 Build strong national trade unions

3.1.1 Organise the unorganised

3.1.2 Strive for trade union unity at the national level

3.1.3 Build unions through education, training and effective exchange of information

3.2 Strengthening collective bargaining

3.3.1 Fight for trade union rights

3.3.2 Fight for Equal Rights

3.3.3 Fight for safe workplaces

3.4 Build a counterweight to the power of transnational corporations

3.4.1 Strengthening union solidarity and cooperation across sectors and TNCs

3.4.2 Advance fundamental rights through International Framework Agreements

Since the IMF Congress in 2005, metalworkers and the whole trade union movement have been confronted with an increasingly hostile political, economic and social environment. Corporations have led globalisation to maximise the global reach and profits of their operations with the support of governments and international institutions by promoting neo-liberal policies, which feature deregulation of capital and labour markets, privatization of public services and assets, a reduction in employment growth in many regions, an erosion of social security systems and the frequent denial of worker and human rights.  Even today, a large proportion of the world's metalworkers do not enjoy the fundamental right to have a union.While the world economy has grown and created vast amounts of wealth, the divide between rich and poor has widened.  Ever more workers have been faced with deteriorating working and living conditions, job insecurity and an erosion of their rights. Capital has gained huge profits, while the purchasing power of most workers has fallen or at best stagnated.

The global economy is in the throes of a unique crisis. The ideology that unbridled greed for profits is the driving force behind human progress has been discredited. What we need is a new approach where politics and economics serve the development of society and quality employment. The current crisis is not only the result of misjudgements and misguided developments in the market, or the result of overheating financial markets. It is entirely the result of the ideology of an unrestrained market and economic and political policies directed at maximising  short term profits.  On a positive note however, while undoubtedly the next four years of the International Metalworkers´Federation work will be tough and difficult, the current economic situation also provides us with a real opportunity to create a new international development model that rivals that of neoliberalism and is based on regulation, fairness, equality, sustainability and decent trade union and labour rights.Therefore, the fundamental mission of the trade union movement is more than ever to improve workers' wages, working and living conditions, and to ensure that workers and workers' rights are respected. The mission of the IMF is to work towards the achievement of these goals in metal­working and related industries by working with its  affiliates and on the global level.Today, corporate-led globalisation is still massively infringing on the rights of workers. The policies promoted by employers, most governments and the international institutions they dominate have resulted in increased economic inequality, precarious employment and a reduction in the bargaining power of working people around the world. Recognizing that union building/organising and collective bargaining are at the heart of our work, metalworker unions must organise and mobilise union members to challenge the neo-liberal agenda of corporations and most governments, and ensure working people have a fair share in the wealth generated through economic growth. The goal of the IMF is to support, coordinate and strengthen the activities of its affiliates to:<ul><li>Improve workers' wages, working and living conditions;</li><li>Organise new members into democratic workers' unions throughout the world;</li><li>Build and strengthen national metalworking unions;</li><li>Ensure that internationally recognized Core Labour Standards are applied in every country and that national laws are changed to reflect these standards; </li><li>Defend and protect workers' rights; </li><li>Fight for safe and healthy working conditions;</li><li>Make women's rights, interests, and representation one of the highest priorities;</li><li>Struggle for sustainable economic growth that protects the environment and improves social conditions; </li><li>Strengthen the power and unity of trade unions to build a counterweight to the power of transnational corporations (TNCs), including their power over the allocation of employment and investment; </li><li>Struggle for fair trade, social justice and the elimination of poverty; and</li><li>Support and build solidarity with countries and governments who promote progressive policies aimed at delivering fairness, equality and social sustainability.</li></ul>It is clear that trade unions cannot achieve these goals only at the national level.  National initiatives must be complemented with international action in order to be successful For this reason the role of the IMF is to:<ul><li>Unite national metalworking trade unions in a global union structure capable of mobilising its membership in solidarity at all levels wherever and whenever required;</li><li>Bring unions together to share information, overcome conflicts of interest and build common strategies;</li><li>Coordinate solidarity and support for affiliates during major disputes or when fundamental workers' rights are infringed;</li><li>Provide information on developments that affect the activities of metalworker unions; </li><li>Actively voice the concerns and interests of metalworkers in effective and innovative ways that involve and mobilise trade union members and bring the IMF into the daily activities of affiliate unions; </li><li>Direct resources and solidarity support towards building strong national unions in countries where unions are weak or non-existent;</li><li>Support trade union education that tackles core trade union activities such as organising, collective bargaining, defending workers' rights and international solidarity;</li><li>Coordinate an international strategy for building unionism in TNCs and their suppliers at the sectoral and enterprise levels.  Challenge the power of TNCs by developing the capacity to bargain collectively at the international level - based on a case by case mandate from the affiliates and by such means as sharing information and experiences among affiliates  and building on the work of negotiating, implementing and monitoring International Framework Agreements (IFAs);</li><li>Expose and challenge governments that violate fundamental trade union rights or interfere in the functioning of independent trade union bodies;</li><li>Represent the interests of metalworkers in international bodies which take decisions affecting jobs and employment conditions, such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO);</li><li>Work with other Global Union Federations (GUFs), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD to pursue closer cooperation and action in the interests of affiliates; and</li><li>Build, whenever possible, dialogue, alliances and joint actions with appropriate political and social organisations. </li><li>Affiliates of the IMF will make significant contributions to the attainment of our goals by:</li><li>Strengthening their political influence, capacities, and resources through organising and collective bargaining at the national level;</li><li>Sharing information and actively communicating with the IMF and other affiliates at the national, regional, and international level;</li><li>Engaging in the regional and global structures of the IMF;</li><li>Supporting each other during disputes or when fundamental workers' rights are violated;</li><li>Participating in international actions and international networks organised through the IMF; and</li><li>Giving visibility to international trade union action by incorporating IMF co-ordinated activities in day-to-day trade union work. </li></ul>Ultimately, to achieve our goals, the IMF must go beyond simple coordination and become a truly global trade union organization that is able to counteract social and economic challenges and is based on the principles of independence and democracy following the mandates given by the decision-making bodies.

In the process of developing a new Action Programme we see the strengths of the International Metalworkers' Federation. We find that the things that unite us are much greater than the things that divide us.  In the borderless world of today, we share common experiences, challenges and an analysis of the situation facing workers globally. This common ground helps the IMF family to decide upon the direction we will take in order to tackle the problems metalworkers confront every day. The fact that this Action Programme was adopted in the midst of a global economic crisis is not insignificant. But we didn't need the global crisis to understand that the neoliberal model that used to dominate the world was destructive to workers' rights and social development. This IMF Action Programme adopted at the 32nd World Congress puts increased emphasis on concrete action and what IMF affiliates can accomplish together through global solidarity. In order to maximise our influence we need to mobilise the forces of the whole IMF family.We have to invest more resources in organising everywhere.  We will systematically target transnational companies that are reluctant to allow workers to exercise their fundamental rights.The campaign against precarious employment becomes solidified in this document.  The Programme recognises that we need to say and do more on the question of sustainable development and combating global warming. Building trade union networks in transnational companies offers a possibility for exchange of information and joint action to make sure that enterprises behave well wherever they operate.  Union building programmes help us strengthen trade unions where they are weak.This Action Programme contains exciting and challenging new commitments for IMF affiliates to respond with real and effective action to build stronger unions and when workers' rights are violated.  If we work together to implement this Action Programme, we can achieve our mission. In solidarity,Jyrki Raina, IMF General SecretaryJune 2009

PREFACE

MEXICO/GLOBAL: Parliament members, policy makers and union leaders from around the world are calling on Mexican President Felipe Calderón to accept their request to meet to discuss the recent murder and ongoing detention and harassment of members of the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM).In July, an estimated 50 labour leaders and members of parliament from countries that are key trading partners with Mexico will participate in a high level fact-finding mission. Over the course of five days, the delegation will meet with Mexican government officials, Ambassadors stationed in Mexico, members of the miners' union and widows and families of the victims of violence. The mission is in response to a marked increase in violence against members of the SNTMMSRM, many of whom have been on strike for more than 22 months at mines owned by Grupo Mexico, the country's largest and most powerful mining company. Grupo Mexico's influence in the Mexican government has resulted in a number of illegal arrests of miners' union members as well as the falsification of documents, corruption and a perversion of the legal system in an attempt to crush the union.The SNTMMSRM is a long-established independent union representing workers in the mining and steel industry and has been an outspoken and powerful advocate for the rights of workers. It has been one of the few unions in Mexico to carry out a militant program of industrial action.Attacks against the union, the subject of official complaints launched with the International Labour Organisation and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have in recent months escalated. The government has illegally frozen all union accounts, national and local, attacked strikers with brutal force and pursued criminal charges and lawsuits against SNTMMSRM members. On June 11, an SNTMMSRM member on strike in Sombrerete, Zacatecas was beaten to death when violence broke out at the Grupo Mexico mine. Three others were critically injured.Parliamentarians and union leaders will be calling on the Government of Mexico to cease assisting the multinational mining company Grupo Mexico in its campaign to destroy the SNTMMSRM, release all union accounts illegally seized by the government, and prosecute in a court of law all those responsible for crimes committed against SNTMMSRM members.The delegation is being jointly organized by the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF), International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), the United Steelworkers (USW) and the SNTMMSRM.  The decision to undertake this action was agreed upon at the IMF Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean, which took place in Buenos Aires last week.

World leaders will call on the Mexican government to stop the escalating violations of trade union rights, the subject of two official complaints filed with the ILO and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Go to IMF's Mexico Campaign page

Parliamentary delegation to visit Mexico

A key role of the IMF is to build effective solidarity and cooperation among affiliated unions present in metalworking TNCs to ensure an equal playing field for workers, which goes far beyond minimum standards. To achieve this, the IMF and its affiliates must actively engage workers in TNCs and their supply chains and give them an opportunity to actively participate in day-to-day trade union work and cross-border activities. Building relationships and strengthening solidarity on an ongoing basis with trade union representatives from different countries enhances the affiliates' ability to act jointly in crises, such as when the rights of workers are violated, during collective bargaining negotiations, when mass layoffs are carried out, or in the event of restructuring to prevent workers being played off against each other. The IMF uses global union networks and the IMF world company councils to build greater capacity for working together in defence of workers' interests across national boundaries. Whenever a TNC announces redundancies or a decrease in working conditions in a given country and the workers and their unions directly affected are actively resisting these changes, the IMF will coordinate solidarity actions involving all countries where that TNC operates. Solidarity actions will include among other initiatives: information campaigns targeting workers and the society at large; the commitment by all unions not to accept the transfer of production from the country in conflict to another one; protest demonstrations in the different countries of operation of the TNC, and wherever possible interruption of production and/or of supplies. In those solidarity campaigns a decisive role will be played by the home country trade unionThis is particularly important to build solidarity with workers in countries like China, where they strive for workers' rights and independent and democratic unions.  In this context, it is also important to engage with non-IMF organisations such as the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) and its metal industry-organisations.  Another step is to institutionalise networks and IMF-world company councils in order to create representative, functioning, financially viable and organised global structures of workers' representation. In this respect, the IMF will resort to the experience made with company-related international cooperation in all regions.The IMF continues to seek to establish IMF world company councils in TNCs.  Whenever possible,   financing of such councils will be negotiated with TNC management without compromising union inclusion and control. Management should play a role in these councils through regular meetings and providing information about the company's situation, policy and investment.These IMF-world company councils shall be underpinned by union networks made up of the responsible trade union coordinators from different countries and / or local areas in which plants of the TNC are located. These networks shall assure that all unions can be part of the information exchange process.At companies such as Volkswagen, Daimler, SKF and Rolls Royce world employee representations/world works councils have already been established, which consist of employee representatives. They were negotiated with and are funded by the respective company.  Trade unions may be involved through an agreement or supportive trade union networks. IMF affiliates seek to engage with those councils to pursue IMF policies.The most important benefit of this company-related, national, regional and international cooperation is the fact that trade union representatives from the company level can exchange information and reach agreed positions.  In so doing, activities of national or local workers' representations may be coordinated internationally. Thus, the networks, world works councils and IMF-world company councils are a way of building solidarity and overcoming competition between workers in different plants of the same company.  The IMF will support and organise training measures that equip union representatives at company level and union officers in charge of TNC with international and intercultural competences. Here, the goal is to efficiently foster cooperation at the company level. The communication between company union representatives and their national trade union must be organised according to the practices in the respective country (e.g. by union officers in charge of certain sectors or companies).Trade union networks, world employee councils/world works councils and IMF world company councils have the potential to develop into negotiating bodies.  The IMF can support this where there is sufficient trade union strength and provided that it is mandated by the trade unions and trade unions are involved and clear IMF guidelines are adhered to.  Building on previous experiences and debates, guidelines for the work of company networks need to be discussed and defined by the IMF. Consideration should be given to focusing resources and efforts in a number of key companies balanced across different sectors and countries.Trade union networks, world works councils and IMF world company councils work within the broader context of IMF sectoral activities and must take into account the varying structures of production chains, and competition in the metal industries. Sectoral work brings together workers from companies that compete with one another to discuss developments and seek shared positions and joint strategies. These strategies should address management attempts to create competition between workers in the sector. The IMF's regional sector-based meetings improve coordination by combining company and sector-level forums for workers, in support of global level activities. Developing sectoral and regional work around consistent responses to  the challenges  facing the industry's workers  will be facilitated when it is done in concert with strengthening trade union links at the enterprise-level, based on an evaluation of the work done already. In some countries, potential leverage to engage TNCs is available to unions through workers' capital in the form of pension and retirement funds. IMF affiliates, particularly those in TNC home countries also have a variety of national means to influence corporate governance. These tools can be used to promote and protect worker and trade union rights across global production chains, to fight corporate corruption, and to push for greater social accountability by corporations.Global campaigns against TNCs that consistently violate worker and trade unions rights are essential to furthering the interests of workers. This requires the support of IMF affiliates, world councils, actions groups and networks, and making use of possible workers' capital and communication strategies.To achieve strengthened union solidarity and cooperation across sectors and TNCs the IMF will:<ul><li>Pressure TNCs to take responsibility for working conditions in their operations and in their supply chains and to remove barriers to freedom of association;</li><li>Build mutual understanding among affiliated unions present in metalworking TNCs to ensure an equal and level playing field for workers that goes far beyond minimum standards;</li><li>Develop a TNC network strategy, working methods and tools, based on a critical analysis of the current networks, councils and available resources in each of the major TNCs. The strategy will include guidelines, to be developed by the Executive Committee, for the work of company networks. These will cover the roles of home country unions, IMF and other affiliates, avoiding co-optation by the companies, building the role of national unions, and tools/protocols for communication and action. The strategy will focus resources and efforts on a number of key companies that are distributed across different sectors and countries;</li><li>Assist affiliates to form and coordinate global union networks at TNCs and/or the sectoral level through which employee representatives from the plant level and national unions can engage in a cross-border exchange of information and consultation on a regular basis;</li><li>Coordinate activities and develop training and information material to build mutual trust and solidarity under the motto &quot;United we stand - divided we fall!&quot;;</li><li>Develop networks for information exchange and action that aim to be efficient, timely, accurate and accessible;</li><li>Gather, analyse and distribute information on the metalworking industries, with particular focus on companies and industrial sectors where workers and members are concentrated, covering collective bargaining, technological changes, innovations on how production is organised, working time, pay and classification systems, and industrial actions;</li><li>Work through TUAC and the ITUC to further strengthen mechanisms to influence corporate governance and socially responsible investment plans of pensions and retirement funds; and</li><li>Work jointly with other GUFs, the ITUC, and TUAC to have structures of union representation in companies at the global level, together with rights to consultation and information, explicitly recognised by the ILO and in international laws and regulations. </li></ul>IMF affiliates will:<ul><li>Provide technical and political support to build and strengthen networks and for successful international coordination of information coming from the national and regional levels; and</li><li>Engage members at the national level to build mutual trust and solidarity to ensure an international approach towards worker and trade union rights when confronting corporate strategies including during transnational restructuring processes.</li></ul>

TNCs, in their pursuit of profits, exert enormous pressure on workers with little regard for democratic, labour and social rights. Employers, supported by many governments and institutions of international governance, seek to shift business risks onto workers and reduce their social, economic, and environmental obligations.To date trade unions have struggled to act as a counterweight to the enormous economic power and sophistication of TNCs. Cost reductions sought by TNCs frequently include a shift from secure to insecure forms of employment, fragmentation of collective bargaining, corporate restructuring, and abuse of human and workers' rights. This serves to heighten competition between workers and communities within and across nations and triggers a race to the bottom in standards.There is an urgent need for more effective international solidarity and cooperation among metalworkers in TNC and along the TNC supply chains to reverse these trends. The IMF has considerable scope to challenge this situation and a range of experiences to draw on, including strategies and activities to strengthen the solidarity between workers across sectors and TNCs. Nevertheless, better tools, a better exchange of information, and more mutual trust between workers need to be promoted by the IMF and its affiliates. This must be built on a critical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of union organisation and corresponding networks, councils, and the resources available in each of the major TNCs. This analysis will be undertaken by the IMF Executive Committee, informed by the IMF regional and sectoral structures.

Precarious work is the biggest threat to wages and working conditions that workers face today. Workers in temporary, casual and contract jobs have fewer rights and are less likely to become members of a trade union.  Throughout the world, women are increasingly finding that their only employment options are through precarious work, in jobs which are insecure, temporary and give no rights to social security, pensions and other conditions. Women's overrepresentation in precarious work means that they have fewer possibilities to obtain regular, ongoing employment. This is as true in the metal sector as it is in other areas of the economy.Women are already disadvantaged in employment, receiving significantly lower wages for the same work and being systematically denied access to promotions and better paying jobs simply because they are women.  Because of this ongoing discrimination, women are more likely to end up in precarious work. But forcing women into precarious work is not in anyone's interests, not those of women themselves, nor those of the families and communities that they support. We all know that it still women that shoulder the primary responsibility for raising children, caring for the elderly and providing other community services that keep society functioning. When women's only access to employment is via precarious jobs, the impacts are necessarily felt by those that depend on them.Numerous studies have shown that improving the economic situation of women is a key factor in reducing poverty worldwide. For this to work, women need to have access to well-paid, secure jobs that give them the capacity to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. Regular jobs with a steady income help give women the kind of autonomy and economic empowerment that enable them to take decisions about their lives - whether to get married, when to have children - decisions that help shape societies. According to the ILO*, good jobs give women control over income and resources, ensuring they have a greater say in family decision-making, including fertility decisions. Women become less dependent on their children for security in their old age or in adverse economic conditions and families are more likely to see the value in educating girls.Precarious jobs, on the other hand, confine women to continuing insecurity, which in many cases discourages them from participating in the labour market, leading to increased poverty for them and their families. Precarious employment prevents women from making long-term plans for their families' future. Financial commitments like signing a housing lease, taking out a bank loan, or even sending children to school are impossible without some form of income security. Precarious work really does equate to precarious lives.This International Women's Day, IMF is working to raise awareness of the broader impacts of precarious work on all our lives, in order to strengthen our actions against it.

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