On 3 March 2015 the French Senate voted to ratify the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) convention 181 on private employment agencies. As the lower chamber of parliament had already approved this decision six weeks ago, France now becomes the 29th country to ratify this convention that was adopted in 1997.

The ratification serves as an important support for reaching appropriate regulation on private employment services. 

The International Confederation of Private Employment Services (Ciett) views this ratification as a very positive sign that more and more countries are acknowledging the significance of balancing adequate protection of workers with the needs of businesses to quickly adapt to change.

The services of appropriately regulated private employment agencies can offer both, as the preamble of the convention stipulates. 

Annemarie Muntz, President of Ciett, commented: “Ciett fully supports the provisions of this convention, which is why we promote its ratification in close coordination with the ILO. Further implementation of the convention will lead to better regulation and more efficient labour markets, in turn leading to job creation.”

“With this ratification, convention 181 becomes one of the most ratified technical conventions, showing how important it is as a tool for governments to provide a clear set of rules regarding private employment services.”

“We call upon governments, especially in regions where appropriate rules are lacking such as Latin America and South East Asia, to take this convention as a basis to amend their labour laws regarding our industry. This will allow our members to provide their services and play a positive role on the labour market for companies and jobseekers alike,” she added.  

A Ciett research paper on the benefits of ILO convention 181 concluded that countries that ratified the convention benefit from:

• Lower levels of informal and undeclared work;
• High correlation with democracy
• More cooperation between public and private employment services;
• Greater protection for freedom of association;
• Full respect for the right to strike;
• Meaningful and constructive social dialogue in the temporary agency work sector;
• Better protection of agency workers by forbidding fee-charging;
• Better wages for agency workers;
• Controlled and mitigated development of the industry.