From debate to action: Professional associations confronting outsourcing and labor deregulation

Abstract

This note addresses the challenges of outsourcing and labor deregulation in the library, archive, and documentation center (GLAM) sector. It reflects on how these practices impact professionals’ working conditions and service quality, highlighting the absence of a specific regulatory framework and organized employer associations in the field. Drawing on Aldee’s experience negotiating the Gipuzkoa sectoral agreement, it explores the difficulties and limitations of local solutions to a structural problem with national implications. Internal debates on outsourcing are also examined, ranging from an ethical rejection of the model to a pragmatic approach seeking to regulate and mitigate its effects. The note concludes by emphasizing the need for coordinated and structural actions to secure dignified working conditions while upholding the sector’s values and sustainability.