Agreement gives equal rights to agency staff
Temporary workers are to be granted the same employment rights as full-time staff after the government came to an agreement with employers and the unions.
The government announced that agency workers would gain the same rights as permanent staff after 12 weeks’ employment.
The agreement is the result of some hard negotiation between the government, the CBI and the TUC.
Legislation will go forward later this year to ensure that temporary staff get equal treatment at work.
Employer groups had been arguing for an interim period of a minimum of six months before agency staff could receive their entitlements.
The government said it believed that the deal will pave the way to reaching agreement in Europe on an agency workers directive that both secures rights for temporary workers and protects labour market flexibility in the UK.
Business Secretary, John Hutton said: “This is the right deal for Britain. The agreement achieves our twin objectives of flexibility for British employers and fairness for workers. It will give people a fair deal at work without putting their jobs at risk or cutting off a valuable route into employment.”
Specifically, the deal struck between employers and the unions means that, after 12 weeks in a given job, agency workers will be entitled to equal treatment. In this case, equal treatment is defined as at least the basic working and employment conditions that would apply to the workers concerned if they had been recruited directly to occupy the same job. It will not cover occupational social security schemes.
Commenting on the agreement, John Cridland, the CBI’s deputy director general, said: “Agency work is good for temps and for the firms that use them, and forms a central plank of the flexible labour market that is so important to our country’s prosperity.
“There has been a major risk of damaging legislation coming from Brussels, and the CBI has judged that the government’s proposals represent the least worst outcome available for British business.”
Mr Cridland said that half of agency assignments will be unaffected as they last less than 12 weeks: “And while pay is covered, occupational benefits that recognise the long-term relationship permanent staff have with an employer, like sick pay and pensions, are rightly excluded.”
He added: “Critically, as well as enabling the European directive on agency work to be put to bed, this agreement should allow the retention of the working hours opt-out from the working time directive, which is equally vital to the future of the British economy.”