date: 26 February 2007

embargo: 00.01hrs Tuesday 27 February 2007

Time to stop agency worker abuse

Employment agencies have a perfectly proper role in supplying temporary staff, but loopholes in employment law that leave agency staff open to exploitation must be closed to stop employers using them as a source of cheap vulnerable labour, says the TUC in a report published today (Tuesday).

The report, Agency Workers - Counting the cost of flexibility is released as MPs prepare to debate a Private Member's Bill on Friday that would give agency staff rights to equal treatment with staff employed directly by employers, similar to rights for part-time and fixed term staff.

The report finds that:

• almost half of agency staff would rather have a permanent job,
• a quarter of agency staff are in assignments of more than a year (and not just filling a temporary need),
• yet agency staff in post for more than a year do not gain the enhanced employment rights other workers would enjoy after 12 months in a job as they normally do not have the legal rights of an employee,
• agency workers have no security of tenure and can be made unemployed at any time,
• agency staff are paid 80p for every pound paid to permanent staff doing a similar level of job according to a TUC analysis of official statistics,
• the Government's proposals on agency workers are welcome, but fail to deal with the main problems faced by agency workers and in particular that it is perfectly legal to treat an agency worker worse than a member of the employer's staff doing the same job.

While many employment agencies are reputable businesses, the report contains examples of agencies breaking employment law particularly when placing vulnerable workers such as migrants. These include forcing workers to live in over-crowded, substandard accommodation, making illegal deductions from the minimum wage and charging for required health and safety equipment.

The report identifies social care and hospitality as two sectors causing specific concern. High levels of agency staffing in social care lead to a lack of continuity in care for vulnerable clients and the use of unsuitable or insufficiently skilled staff. Staff in hospitality are often exploited migrant workers.

While agency work has grown in the UK in recent years, it has been at the expense of other types of short term working rather than permanent jobs. And agency work only accounts for one per cent of the workforce, so the economic impact of toughening up protection for agency staff would be negligible, says the report.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'There will always be a need for agency staff, and there are undoubtedly some people who are happy to work this way. But the picture revealed by this report shows that agency staff are not all happy temps flitting from job to job.

'Poor job rights for agency staff allow unscrupulous employers to exploit agency workers, who are paid less, given fewer holidays and lose out on sick pay and pensions. New rights won't end agency working, they will simply mean that agencies do what they are meant to do, help employers overcome temporary staffing problems.

'That is why the TUC is urging MPs to back Paul Farrelly's Private Member's Bill this Friday and is calling on the Government to support its passage through Parliament. This can help close the gap that denies an important part of the workforce basic decent minimum rights at work.'

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- Agency workers: Counting the cost of flexibility' is available at http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/sectorreport.pdf

- Later today (Tuesday) Amicus, T&G and CWU are holding a media briefing and a meeting for MPs allowing workers who are affected detrimentally by the use of agency and temporary workers to take their campaign for equal treatment to the House of Commons. The briefing takes place at 10.30am on Tuesday 27 February in Room W1 at the House of Commons. Speakers include Paul Farrelly MP and Tony Dubbins, Amicus' Deputy General Secretary. Workers from across the industrial spectrum including local government, the construction, automotive, manufacturing, telecommunications and food industries will tell MPs about the impact that the employment of temporary and agency workers is having in their workplaces. The meeting with MPs is to urge their support for a Private Members' Bill being brought by Paul Farrelly MP that would help prevent the employment of agency workers on lesser terms and conditions than permanently employed staff. The bill is due to have its second reading in the House of Commons this Friday (2 March) and needs the backing of 100 MPs to proceed.

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Contacts:

Media enquiries: Tim Lezard T: 020 7467 1248; E: tlezard@tuc.org.uk

Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248; M: 07778 158175; E: media@tuc.org.uk

Press release (900 words) issued 27 Feb 2007