 |
|
| CURRENT SECTION :: Jobs | UK's most visited IT Contractor Site - 250k unique visitors March 2008 |
|
 |
Not even Gordon Brown can delay one of the biggest debates to affect British agency workers in the 21st century – whether they deserve full employment rights – which MPs could decide this morning. The prime minister did offer to set up an independent commission to examine what could be done to bring pay and conditions of temporary agency workers in line with the conditions of permanent staff. But joined by over 100 MPs, unions hinted the commission would only distract them from their goal of giving Britain’s 1.4m agency workers full employment rights from the sixth week of work. This morning in the Commons chamber, a private member’s bill - the Equal Treatment Bill, will get its second reading. It calls for temps to get the same salary, sick pay and holiday as employees. Introduced by Andrew Miller MP, the bill states that an agency worker 'has the right not to be treated by the employment business, or agency, or by the end user', less favourably than an employee would. As with other public bills, the Temporary and Agency Equal Treatment bill aims to change the law as it applies today, and “end the insecurity and mistreatment of agency workers,” say its supporters. Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, also says it is unacceptable that agency workers are being used to “undermine the terms, conditions and securities of existing permanent workforces.” He explained: “People do not want to go to work to be told that their jobs are to be replaced by agency workers on lower pay, no security, no training, no sick pay, minimum holidays and no pension. And yet this is happening in every part of our economy. “This is why we argue for equal treatment for agency workers. This will simply bring them into line with part-timers and temporary workers who Europe has already protected in this way.” Yet the proposals to put temps on a par with employees in terms of their workplace rights is worrying business, recruitment and contracting captains. "Whilst the protection of vulnerable workers is always foremost in the minds of agencies across the country, it is imperative that the protection of jobs and a flexible labour market is not overlooked,” Tom Hadley, a director at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation told CUK. “Now is not the time to bring in legislation that could potentially impact on job creation. Most of the instances of worker abuse already breach existing regulations and the key is to ensure that these are effectively enforced.” The REC’s latest Tracking Report shows that satisfaction amongst agency workers is very high, and still increasing, while its previous surveys show most don’t want extra protections. Unions dispute the credibility of the survey and therefore its findings: “This [was] not an accurate cross-section of agency workers as postal questionnaires have a poor response rate and REC members are likely to operate at the quality end of the market.” In its rebuttal, the TUC pointed to its own survey by pollster YouGov, which found “high degrees of complaint” among low paid agency workers about their working conditions. But the Professional Contractors Group, the trade group for freelance contractors, many of whom use staffing agencies, says its members haven't made any demands for 'employee-style' protections. “Highly-skilled freelance professionals who happen to use agencies to find work do not want employment rights; indeed, their entire way of working would be destroyed if employment rights were to be foisted on them,” the PCG said. The CBI, the employers’ organisation, has concerns that MPs approval of the bill could be the first step toward economic meltdown in the temporary work sector. “In the 2007 CBI/Pertemps annual employment trends survey of over 500 firms, which between them employ some 1.1 million staff, 58 per cent of employers said that such a law would lead to a 'significant' cut in the use of temporary workers, suggesting that - across the whole labour market - 250,000 placements could be lost.” John Cridland, CBI deputy director-general, also said their research shows that “very few temporary workers qualify as vulnerable and even fewer are exploited.” “Around half choose temporary work over a permanent job, and many are well paid. All are protected by rights covering working time, paid holiday, minimum wage, discrimination and health and safety,” he added. “Any firms that do mistreat their temporary staff are breaking existing rules and deserve to be hauled over the coals. This type of abuse demands more effective enforcement, not a raft of new laws.” The PCG agrees. John Kell, group policy officer, said: “For genuine ‘temps’ there is already a significant amount of regulation: the key to preventing exploitation is to implement existing rules properly, not to create new and even more awkward ones.” Regardless of today’s outcome, employers will continue to be divided on whether temporary agency workers deserve full employment rights and if they do, at what stage of their assignment. This week the Chartered Institute of Personnel reportedly found 21 per cent of employers believe temps should be treated as employees from day one; 27 per cent said they should “never” have equal pay and conditions, while 26 per cent said they should get equal rights after one year’s service. Feb 22, 2008 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
|
|
 
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All content © Contractor UK Limited | [Register for News Letter] | [Privacy Statement] | [Terms of Use] | [Top of Page] |