EU grants agency workers equal rights

Agency temps have been granted the same employment rights as permanent staff following the approval of a new bill.

The European Parliament this week passed the Agency Workers Directive, which gives temps the same guarantees in terms of pay, working hours, maternity and annual leave from the day they join the company.

However, earlier negotiations between unions and employers mean agency workers in Britain will only acquire such rights after 12 weeks.

The new rules have attracted a mooted response from the business and employment sectors.

‘On the brink of a recession, MEPs have done exactly the wrong thing: they've passed a law that will lead to fewer jobs and make life even harder for small businesses,’ warned Mats Persson of Britain's Open Europe research think-tank.

Yet TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber, applauded the move. ‘Too many agency workers in the UK have faced unfair treatment and injustice, as our Commission on Vulnerable Employment highlighted earlier this year.

‘Now agency workers will now finally have a fair deal and be entitled to the same pay as permanent staff doing the same job, and receive much stronger legal protection from exploitation.’

The Confederation of British Industry, meanwhile, said the new directive would ‘not be welcomed by employers,’ but described the reforms as ‘less damaging than previous proposals’.