CBI warns over law change
CHANGES in labour laws affecting agency and temporary workers could dramatically hit the profitability of Teesside’s manufacturing base, according to the CBI.
It said cumbersome employment regulations threatened around two-thirds of North-east employers who relied on agency workers to cope with fluctuations in demand.
Liz Smith, assistant regional director for the CBI, which conducted the survey of 513 respondents employing over one million staff with labour market specialists Pertemps, said: “The findings of this survey very clearly reinforce how critical flexibility in the labour market is to maintaining the competitiveness of the North-east economy.”
Forty percent of employers also feared that removing the opt-out from the European Working Time Directive would have a “severe” or “significant” impact on their business. Nearly a third of local staff currently sign the opt-out.
Ms Smith added: “The recent agreement on agency temps is harmful to business, but it could have been so much worse. The economy is clearly struggling, and now is not the time for the European Union to weaken its commitment to the opt-out from the Working Time Directive, which remains a paramount concern for many businesses.
“Right now the Government needs to recognise that businesses are at the limit of what they can absorb. If employers aren’t given breathing space from workplace legislation then jobs will be put at risk.”
The survey revealed that Teesside employers were more likely to be affected by new rights for temporary and agency workers, giving them equal status with permanent employees, than those in the rest of the country. The new rights will apply to half of workers in agency positions, which is the proportion of temps on assignments which run for more than 12 weeks. At a national level, the new rights will only apply to 40% of temps.
Only 15% of the businesses surveyed thought the UK had become a more attractive place to do business as a result of the new labour laws.
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