Kevin Rowan
Jun 27 2005 By Kevin Rowan, The Journal
Employers regularly rely on temporary workers, supplied through agencies, to help them meet fluctuating demands.
This is one of the cornerstones of the flexible labour market that we hear about from business organisations.
There are at any one time an average of 600,000 temporary agency workers in the UK, the highest number in the EU.
The vast majority of these, like any other workers in the country, would like interesting, good quality, well-paid jobs.
This, however, isn't the experience of most temporary agency workers.
Unlike in the rest of Europe, most temporary agency workers in the UK receive no sick pay, no work pension, no protection from unfair dismissal, have very little opportunity to participate in any kind of training and development and are paid less than permanent employees doing similar jobs.
Only in Hungary, Ireland and the UK do temps not have the right to be paid the same as permanent employees. And temporary work is less likely to lead to a long-term, permanent job in the UK than in other countries.
Over 70% of temps say they want permanent work, but agencies frequently levy hefty fees as disincentives to employers who want to take on their temps permanently.
It is common for agencies to bar temporary staff from applying for permanent positions, even if they have been doing for years the job being advertised and are well-placed to get it.
The TUC would like to see temping agencies licensed in the UK to ensure better treatment for temporary workers.
Only the UK, Denmark, Finland and Sweden do not require agencies to be licensed to operate, and in the Scandinavian countries the relationships are regulated by strong employer and trade union agreements.
The Netherlands recently reintroduced a licensing scheme because of widespread abuse of agency workers.
As the UK takes over the presidency of the European Union, those 600,000 agency workers would be delighted if the Temporary Agency Workers Directive, currently stalled in the wranglings of the EU Council of Ministers, was progressed.
The directive is stalled as member states argue about the qualifying period for these rights. Some suggest a year, some six months and some, along with the TUC, argue for day one rights.
At the current rate of "temp turnover", a qualifying period of a year would mean three quarters of temps in the UK would not access this right, and six months would debar over half - and these ratios are likely to increase if there is a stronger incentive for not keeping temps on.
Yet there is no evidence to suggest that regulating the labour market in this way would hit the economy.
It is now time agency workers were treated fairly.
