World Cities Day 2018 – Decent work for prosperous local communities

Decent Work

(31 October 2018) Local and regional government workers across Europe and the globe provide essential public services which enable our cities and communities to prosper. Their working conditions, pay, and job security are closely interlinked with the quality  and accessibility of services they provide – deficiencies in the former have a detrimental impact on the latter.

On this year’s World Cities Day (31st October), EPSU wanted to highlight the impact non-standard and precarious forms of work in local government can have on workers and public service users, too. Although data on non-standard work in local and regional government is not plentiful, recent reports indicate that such types of contracts have gained hold in the sector. Precarious forms of work have implications for wages, job security and well-being,  access to social protection, health & safety, and for workers’ ability to be organised and represented.

To safeguard decent work in local and regional governments and the quality of local services provided, it is essential that non-standard forms of contracts in the sector are monitored, improved, and limited. This has motivated EPSU’s Local and Regional Government Standing Committee to re-affirm their commitment to tackling the issue in a statement to mark this day.

Public Services International are also using the occasion to draw attention to precarious work in local governments worldwide.