TUC criticises business over temps’ rights
Giving basic employment rights to agency workers will not affect jobs or the economy, according to the latest research from the TUC research.
The union umbrella body today claimed that the arguments used by ministers and business lobbyists against equal pay and other rights for temps are ‘at worst far-fetched and at best unproven’.
The report comes ahead of a crucial meeting of European ministers next month on the proposed EU directive to improve employment terms and conditions for agency workers.
Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary-elect, commented: “The moral case for treating temporary workers fairly is obvious. It should require overwhelming evidence to persuade the government to oppose proper protection.”
“Yet the arguments made by the employment agencies and business lobbyists do not stand up to scrutiny. The government should drop its objections to the EU Directive now that business arguments have been shown to be the prejudices of vested interests, rather than objective fact.”
Business organisations have claimed that the UK’s industrial competitiveness and flexibility would be affected by extending basic employment rights to agency workers.
It claims that the higher costs of holiday pay, extended leave, and sickness benefits would put companies off using temps, and therefore would cost jobs.
The CBI has also claimed that it is no coincidence that the UK employs two-thirds of all temporary workers in the EU, and has the lowest unemployment rates.
And opponents of the directive have pointed out that people make difficult lifestyle choices in order to get jobs and stay in work, and it is their right to be able to do so.
But the TUC has pointed out that the number of temps in the UK has gone down in the last decade, while the number of agency workers in the rest of Europe is going up, yet employers on the continent offer better protection to temps.
The organisation also noted that there is no evidence to support the assumption that temping offers a stepping-stone to employment for groups who have difficulty finding work such as mothers returning after a career break and the long-term unemployed.
The CBI is calling for the directive only to apply after employees have been temping for at least a year.
But the TUC has suggested that such a caveat would negate the effect of the legislation, and has also stated that companies could actually benefit from improved productivity, and from more and better candidates coming into agencies because of the improved terms and conditions.
