Digital press kit for Press Release No. 36/2018 IG Metall Works Council Survey: Temporary Work and Outsourcing Displace Permanent Jobs

Frankfurt am Main – Despite an economic boom and a labor shortage, industrial companies are increasingly outsourcing work through temporary staffing and subcontracting. About 80 percent of companies in the metal and electrical industries, the wood and plastics processing industries, and the textile industry use temporary agency work or award contracts to outside firms through so-called service contracts. This is shown by a nationwide survey conducted by IG Metall among works council members in approximately 3,600 companies. “The survey of works councils shows that temporary agency work and outsourcing are increasingly being used as cheaper substitutes for regular jobs. This goes far beyond simply covering order peaks or other temporary staffing shortages,” said Jörg Hofmann, President of IG Metall, on Friday in Frankfurt.

IG Metall therefore intends to work with employees to further curb the misuse of outsourcing. “We have already achieved a great deal in recent years: industry-wide collective bargaining agreements and company agreements ensure that temporary agency workers receive higher pay, better working conditions, and opportunities for permanent employment—and they limit the use of temporary agency work within companies. In addition, we are securing collective bargaining agreements at an increasing number of industry-related service providers,” said the IG Metall chairman. “Despite these individual successes, the obstacle remains that works councils lack sufficient co-determination rights regarding outsourcing to prevent abuse. Although policymakers amended the laws last year, they still do not curb the abuse,” said Hofmann.

27.5 percent of the works council members surveyed say that temporary agency work and outsourcing have displaced permanent jobs at their companies over the past three years. Outsourcing now affects all areas of industrial companies, from development and IT to in-house logistics and right into production. This trend had already become apparent in a comparable survey conducted by IG Metall three years ago.

IG Metall intends to step up its efforts to combat the misuse of temporary agency work and outsourcing in workplaces and, together with works councils and employees, push through further regulations there. To this end, IG Metall is launching a workplace policy campaign under the slogan “Good Work for All.” The goal: All employees at a company—whether permanent employees, temporary agency workers, or employees of industry-related service providers—should have good working conditions.