Agency Workers

The UK's largest trade unions are calling for agency workers to be given basic employment rights, equivalent to their permanently employed colleagues.

The campaign coincides with suggestions that Portugal may use its EU presidency to revive the Agency Workers Directive which has lain dormant since 2002. It would have an effect not dissimilar to that being demanded by Britain’s trade unions.

The CBI has reacted by saying that agency workers form a vital part of the UK workforce and any attempt to change their status might have direct consequences on the numbers engaged by businesses. They predict that up to 250,000 posts might disappear if the difference in status between agency workers and employees were to be abolished.

The stage seems set for a major argument since the UK is the largest user of temporary labour in the EU. More than a million people work in the agency world and whatever side you are on their importance to the economy can’t be ignored.

The key right which would start the debate in earnest is the right not to be unfairly dismissed. At the moment agency workers will never gain this right regardless of how long they work with a particular business, whereas their employed colleagues will be able to claim after 12 months continuous employment. Even judges have said that this is unsatisfactory, and there has been much litigation on the point over the last few years.

In some cases agency workers have been found to be employed by the businesses using their services, because regardless of the labels people wear the way they work with the business is incompatible with any status other than that of employment.

It is arguable that there ought to be certainty about the status of workers, and that everyone in one should have basic minimum rights. Equally, many agency workers choose the life as an alternative to regular employment because of the different but real benefits it brings.

It does seem inevitable that legislation will come, whether from Europe or from our own government. In the meantime employers need to consider their relationships with agency staff and ensure that nothing is done which compromises the stated basis on which they are working. Any doubt on this may mean advice needing to be taken.