Temporary Agency Workers
Following years of trade union campaigning at
European and national level to get a fair deal for temporary agency
workers the Temporary Agency Workers' Directive (EU
Directive 2008/104/EC on temporary agency work) was finally
adopted in 2008.
The Directive establishes the principle of equal
treatment for agency workers from day one, giving them the right to
the same basic working and employment conditions – including pay,
working time, annual leave and maternity rights - as they
would have had, if directly recruited by the employer to the same
jobs.
Exemptions are limited and are only possible
through collective agreements or, in specific situations, by
agreement negotiated between the national social partners. This was
the case in the UK, where the TUC and CBI reached an agreement in
May 2008 which was instrumental in unblocking the deadlock
regarding progress on the Directive at EU level which had existed
since 2002. Under the terms of the TUC/CBI agreement, agency
workers in the UK will receive equal treatment after a 12 week
qualifying period.
The Directive was published in the Official
Journal of the EU on 5 December 2008 and Member States have to
implement its provisions by 5 December 2011 at the latest. In the
UK this will be done through the Agency
Workers Regulations 2010 which will come into force on 1
October 2011.
For background information to the adoption of the
Agency Workers Directive read GMB European
Briefing EU Temporary Agency Workers Directive (May 2009).
LATEST NEWS
June 2010: Global Union Principles on Temporary Agency
Workers - Global Unions UNI, the ITUC and TUAC have
adopted principles on
temporary agency work, calling for good, secure jobs for all.
The principles address both the exploitation and abuse of workers
provided by temporary work agencies as well as the damage to
regular employment relationships caused by the misuse of these
agencies. Although trade unions in different countries and sectors
take varying approaches to dealing with temporary employment
agencies, ranging from total bans to partial bans to strict
regulation, all Global Unions have reached agreement on a number of
key principles including: permanent, open-ended and direct
contracts should remain the primary form of employment; temporary
agency workers should receive equal treatment in all respects and
be covered by the same collective bargaining agreement as other
workers in the user company and the use of agency workers should
never be used to weaken trade unions or to undermine organising or
collective bargaining rights. For the full set of principles:
January 2010:The Agency Workers Regulations
2010 (Statutory Instrument 2010 No.93), implementing the provisions
of the EU Directive on Temporary Agency Work, were laid before
Parliament on 21 January 2010. There has been some movement from
Government towards the trade union position in the final text
however, the potential for anti-avoidance on some issues remains
and the definition of agency worker is still weaker than we would
have liked. The Regulations have been introduced to Parliament by a
procedure under the European Communities Act, whereby although a
debate can be held if requested, no amendments are allowed. If the
Regulations
are approved, they will come into force on 1 October 2011.
OLDER NEWS
December 2009: GMB response to the BIS consultation on
the draft regulations to implement the EU Temporary Agency Workers
Directive
"GMB welcomes the publication of the draft Regulations, and the
opportunity to participate in this second consultation. In this
response we focus our comments on the draft Regulation text, though
our comments in our earlier submission remain valid. GMB is
dismayed that the Government has announced in the draft that the
Regulations will not come into force until 1 October 2011
giving the sectors using agency workers time to prepare for
this change. This is completely out with the terms and spirit
of the agreement TUC entered into with the Government and CBI, to
unblock the progress of the EU Directive and allow agency workers
to benefit from long overdue rights to equal treatment without
further delay. GMB
response BIS Consultation on draft Regulations on Implemenation
of Agency Workers Directive (December 2009).
October 2009: The Department of Business,
Innovation & Skills (BIS) is currently consulting on the draft
Agency Workers Regulations 2010, which will implement the EU Agency
Workers Directive in the UK (Directive
2008/104/EC). GMB will be responding to the consultation. We
are concerned that although some aspects of the regulations are
positive, they nevertheless provide scope for avoidance of equal
treatment and fail to match the requirements of the Directive in
key areas.
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Consultations
on the implementation of the
Temporary Agency Workers Directive:
September 2009: TUC Congress resoundingly carried
a GMB motion calling for the quick implementation and enforcement
of the Directive. The motion flushed out the intentions of the
Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), the agency
employers' organisation, who issued a press release on the eve of
the TUC debate calling for the Government to delay implementation
until the December 2011 deadline.
July 2009: GMB has responded to the
Government's consultation on the implementation of the Temporary
Agency Workers Directive urging the Government to face up to the
vulnerability and exploitation that has been rife in the sector and
to commit to strong, clear and effective implementation of the
rights and protections that the Directive is intended to provide.
GMB
response BIS Consultation Paper May 2009
on Implementation of the Agency Workers Directive.
Useful links:
TUC Working
on the Edge Campaign
UNI Global Union Temp & Agency Workers
website: