Temps treated like ‘second-class workers’

Many temporary employees are being treated like ‘throwaway second-class workers’, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has claimed.

The TUC has delivered a dossier of reports from temporary workers to the government, detailing a list of abuses suffered by temps, including illegal low pay, unlawful deductions from wages and the withholding of holiday pay.

Brendan Barber, TUC General Secretary said: “Temping is vital to today’s modern economy, but with no proper protection, too many agency temps are suffering working practices from the dark ages. Too many are treated like a throwaway second-class worker and have to take it or leave. If they complain, they lose their assignment and any chance of more work with the agency.

“Decent, Europe-wide rights for agency workers would make temping the quality step into, or stop gap between, full-time work that it should be.”

In the UK, temporary workers do not have the same rights as permanent employees and are not entitled to such benefits as redundancy pay, maternity pay and the right to claim unfair dismissal.

The Temporary Agency Workers Directive, which would have granted UK temps the right to the same pay and basic employment protections as permanent staff, has been put on hold at a European level after countries failed to agree on the proposals.

However, the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), which represents recruitment agencies, has disputed the TUC’s claims. On Thursday, the REC published independent research, which showed that 52% of temporary workers chose temping for “positive reasons”, such as increased flexibility, better pay or to gain valuable work experience.

The survey also found that only one in seven agency workers surveyed was dissatisfied with their work to any degree.

Gareth Osbourne, Managing Director of REC, said: “Attitudes to work have changed, with variety and flexibility increasingly being the key indicators of job satisfaction. Traditional notions of job security are also being challenged, with individuals taking more responsibility for developing their own skills, experience and contracts.

“Temping still provides a short-term solution and a way back into the labour market for many, but the research shows that the UK now has a diverse mix of temporary workers. This includes long-term or career temps, ‘flexi-temps’ who enjoy the work life balance, ‘extra income temps’, ‘student temps’ and ‘stepping-stone’ temps who are re-entering the workplace or in the process of finding permanent work”.

There are currently around 1.3 million people in the UK registered with employment agencies.

(KMcA/SP)