Government must end discrimination against temp workers and crack down on rogue agencies

The TUC is calling on the Government today (Friday) to support Paul Farrellyís Private Membersí Bill to give agency workers legal equal treatment rights at work, and save one million temporary workers from discrimination in the workplace and ill-treatment by rogue employment agencies.

Part-time and fixed-term contract workers enjoy the same employment rights as permanent staff, but currently employers are free to discriminate against agency workers in terms of pay and basic working conditions. They can hire agency workers on much lower hourly rates than they would pay directly employed workers, and on far worse terms and conditions to do exactly the same job as directly employed staff.

Agency staff miss out on a whole range of benefits such as overtime rates, commission, sickness and maternity benefits and this insecurity has huge implications for their current and future financial position ñ including the inability to obtain a mortgage. Nearly half of temporary workers (43 per cent, LFS) are aged
21-30, leaving a whole generation of the workforce unable to get on the property ladder or take part in pension schemes.

The TUC also says that nearly every story exposing the bad treatment and exploitation of workers has involved rogue employment agencies, and that there needs to be better enforcement of existing rules and the Gangmaster regime should be extended to other sectors where abuse is common.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: ìThere is nothing wrong with legitimate recruitment agencies providing short-term work for those with short-term availability. But rogue agencies and dodgy practices are now tarnishing the whole sector.

ìIn particular too many employers are now using agencies to replace secure jobs with reasonable terms and conditions with badly paid insecure agency staff. Far from providing a bridge to permanent work, this runs the risk of creating an underclass of workers who cannot get permanent work, who have no loyalty to employers, and who have to move from part-time job to part-time job.

ìTUC research shows that compared to permanent employees, agency workers have very few rights and this lays them open to exploitation at the hands of rogue employers.

ìThis Government has done much for people at work, but new laws are needed urgently to protect agency workers from ill-treatment. Paul Farrellyís Private Membersí Bill is an important opportunity to introduce decent minimum standards for all. We urge the Government to support the Billís passage through Parliament.î

One person who would benefit from the new legislation is agency worker Jennifer Buchanan, who told the TUC: ìThis insecurity really affects my life because I canít plan. Basically I canít plan for the future, if you want to buy a home you canít, youíre just not sure about anything.î

Employers would also benefit from offering temporary workers equal rights, as agency work is not viewed as an attractive line of work. LFS figures show that just under half of all agency workers say they would prefer the security of a permanent job. In addition, a TUC and YouGov survey revealed that for many respondents, agency work was not delivering choice and control over their working lives. Half felt that neither their agency or the employers they were placed with had provided them with training to help career development and 46% said that working through an agency makes it harder to complain if anything goes wrong, rising to 61% of respondents who were working on the minimum wage.

Concerns raised by agency workers in the YouGov survey included:

- ëHave to sort own pension. Never quite sure if there is more work.í

- ëInsecurity about the future. Short-term jobs, constant change.í

- ëKnowing a job could end anytime giving problems with bills, rents.í

- ëNo security, canít get mortgage.í

- ëNot having steady work, therefore income and budget was difficult.í

- íLack of security and permanent work.í

- ëThe lack of stability. With no permanent job you canít get a mortgage or plan for the future.í

- ëNot knowing if there is another job to go to.í

- ëInsecurity. You can be let go at any time, with not a lot of notice.í

- ëLack of stability in employment. Worry of being off sick and not earning money.í

- ëNo security and banks donít consider it a job so you canít get mortgages.í

- ëNo security. Income is not guaranteed from week to week.í

- The worry of when the next job will be.í