New rights for temporary staff

The ultimate example of flexible, short term labour is hiring staff through agencies. Instead of the hassle, time and expense of recruitment, training and pension costs, firms have been able to buy in labour to meet temporary staff shortages. In some cases businesses have gone further. Their use of agency staff extends beyond filling gaps through to using agency workers for key roles such as cleaning and maintenance. I still remember my surprise when I took a group of students on a field trip to a well known supermarket and found that they had no cleaners. Their wonderful claims to be a supportive, caring and loyal employer didn’t actually extend to the people with a mop in their hand.

Much of this is set to change. Agency workers will be given the same employment rights as permanent staff after 12 weeks under proposals agreed between the government and unions. Unions, which have campaigned for the measure for years, say the agreement offered much stronger legal protection.

There are estimated to be about 1.4 million agency workers in the UK. Under the new proposals, agency workers will be given equal pay and holiday entitlements after 12 weeks in a job. However, the agreement will not cover sick pay or pension payments while temporary staff will have to work the same length of time as full-time workers to enjoy paid maternity leave.

Business Secretary John Hutton is quoted by the BBC: “It will give people a fair deal at work without putting their jobs at risk or cutting off a valuable route into employment.”

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) said the issue had been “crying out for attention for far too long. Too many agency workers in the UK face unfair treatment and injustice.”

What do firms think? Their interests are often expressed through the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Its boss said, “The government’s proposals represent the least worst outcome available for British business. Agency work is good for temps and for the firms that use them and forms a central plank of the flexible labour market that is so important to our country’s prosperity.”