Press Release No. 27/2010 IG Metall Survey: Temporary Work Is Replacing Permanent Employment

Frankfurt/Main – During the current economic upswing, employers are primarily expanding employment through temporary agency work and fixed-term contracts. This is one of the key findings of a survey in which over 5,100 works council members within the IG Metall union’s organizational area participated. According to the survey, 43 percent of companies use temporary agency work to meet additional labor needs. Another 42 percent of companies hire only on a temporary basis. Only 15 percent of companies meet their additional labor needs with permanent positions. “Permanent employment is the exception. Temporary work is becoming a threat to regular employees. This is alarming,” said IG Metall Vice President Detlef Wetzel on Monday in Frankfurt.

Already, in just under a quarter of companies (23 percent), temporary workers make up between 10 and 50 percent of the total workforce. “By relying on temporary agency work, employers are dividing the workforce and also contributing to the division of society,” said Wetzel. “Anyone who continues to rely on wage dumping through temporary agency work is jeopardizing the system of flexible collective bargaining agreements. Massive use of temporary agency work and flexible collective bargaining agreements—you can’t have both at the same time with IG Metall.”

Instead of finally curbing the widespread abuse of temporary work in Germany, the draft bill recently presented by Federal Labor Minister von der Leyen opens the floodgates to the unchecked elimination of permanent jobs. “With this draft, the federal government is encouraging the expansion of the low-wage sector because it provides for neither a maximum assignment period nor a ban on synchronization.” Wetzel called on the Federal Minister of Labor to adopt the FDP’s proposals for the “equal pay principle” and thereby combat the abuse of temporary agency work.