UK temps ‘least protected in Europe’, TUC claims

UK agency workers are the least protected in Europe, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has claimed, with agency workers in Poland and Slovenia having more rights than British temps.

According to a TUC report into European temporary workers, the UK is one of only three European countries where temps get paid less than colleagues doing similar jobs and one of only four countries, which do not operate a licensing scheme to protect temps from ‘cowboy agencies’.

The TUC said that most of the UK’s estimated 600,000 temporary agency workers receive no sick pay, work pension, protection from unfair dismissal or vocational training and are paid less than colleagues doing similar work.

The union also claimed that temporary working was not a ‘stepping stone’ to a permanent job, saying that over 70% of workers wanted a permanent job but few had access to training.

Temps were also usually “in too vulnerable a position” to enforce the legal rights they did have, the TUC claimed, because they were dependent on the agency for work.

The TUC’s research in the rest of Europe found that, of the 20 EU countries for which information was available, the only other countries were workers did not have the right to be paid the same as a permanent employee were Hungary and Ireland.

And, of the 24 EU countries for which information was available, only Denmark, Finland and Sweden did not require a license for agencies to operate. However, unlike the UK, temporary workers were protected by strong employer and trade union agreements.

The TUC has urged the government to try to break the logjam in negotiations at the EU Council, in order to bring in the Temporary Agency Workers Directive. The union said that this directive would give UK temps the same pay as permanent employers in the same job, as well as other basic rights and measure to improve access to training and career progression.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “The temp trade should not be about getting workers on the cheap, holding them back from quality permanent jobs and throwing them on the scrap heap when employers and agencies are done with them.

“Most European countries have realised that if they are going to increase temping, develop a competitive job market and cut unemployment, they need to make sure that temporary workers are paid well and treated fairly.”

(KMcA/SP)