UK agency temps the least protected in Europe

Even agency workers in Poland and Slovenia have more rights than UK temps according to a TUC report, which shows that UK agency workers are the least protected in Europe.

íThe EU Temp Tradeí shows that the UK is one of only three European countries where temps get paid less than colleagues doing similar jobs and one of only four other countries which do not operate a licensing scheme to protect temps from cowboy agencies.

Negotiations around the Temporary Agency Workers Directive have stalled in Brussels, depriving UK temps of decent pay and basic rights while almost all EU countries have already acted to protect their temps, with no adverse economic effects. The TUC is urging the UK Government to make good its earlier commitment to try and break the logjam delaying the Directive.

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. At the moment one of the growing number of temps in Poland or Spain is treated far better than one of the falling number of temps in the UK.

Findings from the TUC íEU Temp Tradeí report:

Agency working in the UK
Unlike the rest of Europe most of the UKís estimated 600,000 temporary agency workers receive no sick pay, work pension, protection from unfair dismissal, or vocational training and are paid less than permanent colleagues doing similar work.

Temp working is nowhere near as powerful a stepping-stone into a permanent job as it should be. Over 70 per cent of UK agency workers want permanent work but few have access to training and agencies can charge hefty fees as a disincentive to companies that want to take their temps on permanently. Feedback to the TUCís campaign to protect temps suggests that it is common for companies to bar temporary staff from applying for permanent positions, even if the temp has been doing the advertised job for a number of years (see case studies below).

Temps do have some legal protection but are usually in too vulnerable a position, dependent on the agency for work, to enforce their rights. There is no licensing scheme to protect UK temps from cowboy job agencies. And since 1999 the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, which investigates complaints and carries out random checks on agencies, has prosecuted only 24 temporary employment agencies and banned just seven individuals from operating as agencies (agency work is regulated by Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003).

European temping
The UK has the largest number of temporary agency workers but temps make up a higher percentage of the workforce in Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France and Poland (figures are unavailable for most of the new EU states).

Of the 20 EU countries for which information is available, only temps in the UK, Hungary and Ireland do not have the right to be paid the same as a permanent employee doing a similar job.

Of 24 EU countries (information is not available for Cyprus) only agencies in the UK, Denmark, Finland and Sweden do not require a license to operate. Agency working is largely deregulated in the three Scandinavian countries but temps are protected by strong employer and trade union agreements. The Netherlands recently re-introduced a business permit requirement, abolished in 1998, because of widespread abuses of agency workersí rights.

Protecting agency workers has no adverse affect on a countries economy or employment levels.

The Temporary Agency Workers Directive logjam

The Temporary Agency Workers Directive would improve the quality of UK agency work and make it a more attractive option, just as rights for fixed-term and part-time workers boosted these kinds of employment in the UK. The Directive would give UK temps the same pay as a permanent employee of the company doing the same job and other basic rights, along with measures to improve access for temps to training and career progression within a company. The Directive is stuck in a logjam primarily because the EU Council of Ministers cannot agree when temps should gain equal pay and decent rights. Some states are arguing that a temp should be working in a company for a year before gaining protections, others want six months and others are pushing for temps to have rights from their first day in the job. The TUC believes only day one rights will properly protect all UK temps, as most work on contracts shorter than six months and agencies and evidence from other European countries shows that employers would get round the law by employing temps for one day less than the qualifying period. Only a quarter of UK temps work on one contract for more than 12 months and less than half work in the same company for six months. The UK Government has said it will seek early agreement of the Temporary Agency Workers Directive.

íThe EU Temp Tradeí report contains case studies illustrating the treatment of UK temps:

Permanently temporary
David* has been on assignment with the same company for over nine years. He was placed through a large recruitment agency. Despite numerous promises of being able to work permanently for the company, this has never materialised. David has had several roles within the company but has been denied access to training and feels that he has become trapped where he is. David is aware that he has a reasonable case to argue that he is already legally an employee of the company (albeit without the rights and the perks), but is reluctant to follow through officially as he could end up unemployed and unemployable. Davidís role has now been advertised internally but he has been told that he is not allowed to apply. Davidís annual performance reviews show that he is perfectly capable of doing the job he is not being allowed to apply for. David says that the company has often taken advantage of his desperation to remain in the job by asking him to work extra unpaid hours. David feels he cannot argue his case with the company as he is easily disposable, as an agency worker.

Agency workers need not apply
Larry* has been working for a large public sector employer for over two years, through an employment agency. His contract has been renewed over and over again. Larry was recently told that the job he has been doing is to be advertised internally and that, because he is a temporary agency worker, he cannot apply for the job. Larry says that he has shown a long term commitment to the department and is now being discriminated against for being a temp. Surely there has been a need for somebody in the post as I have been doing it for so long. It means I have missed out on pension schemes, sick pay and pay rises for over two years.

Happy holidays
Rita* worked for a large employment agency. The holiday year ran from 1 October to 30 September but Rita did not realise this. She telephoned her agency during the first week of October to claim for any holiday that she had accrued and was told she was too late. She was told that the total amount payable would have been over 100. She asked them (as it was only one week late) if something could be done and was told no. Rita is currently temping through another agency and recently found out that her basic hourly rate was about 2 less than a permanent member of staff would get for doing the same job.

Down and out
Chris* worked as a temp in a factory in the West Midlands. Due to lifting heavy boxes and using the barcode gun, Chris developed pain in her wrist. Her doctor diagnosed a torn ligament. The factory then told the agency to replace Chris. Chris now has no job and does not know if her wrist injury is permanent. The agency has told Chris that she will be paid statutory sick pay, but she will not be contacted for work again.