EC Temporary Workers Directive

Further to the bulletin on 18th February, the Temporary Workers Directive has now been adopted by the European Commission.

The Press Assocation has issued the following press release (below). As soon as the text of the Directive is available, I will issue a further bulletin summarising it.

More detail can be seen, for now, at the Europa website.

EC proposes new working rights for agency 'temps'

New working rights for agency "temps" are proposed by the European Commission.

The commission wants temporary workers to receive the same pay and conditions as regular company employees.

Brussels has already introduced new measures which give part-time workers a share of holiday entitlement and other agreements routinely offered to full-timers.

Now it wants to boost protection at work for a major sector - the temporary agency worker brought in to fill in for staff shortages for a few weeks or months.

The Commissioner responsible for employment and social affairs, Anna Dimantopoulou, says agency "temps" deserved the same rights as other workers.

She says: "This proposal not only seeks to create more jobs but also aims to provide better jobs for temporary agency workers through a basic minimum of protection across the EU."

She says the plans provided plenty of flexibility for national authorities to apply the rules in line with domestic practice.

The temporary agency work market has been growing steadily for years, with 80% of temporary agency workers in Europe employed in just four member States - Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands.

Euro MPs have welcomed the move. Labour's Claude Moraes says it's time the rights of full-time and part-time workers were extended to the temporary agency sector.

The proposal now goes to the European Parliament and National Employment Ministers of the member states for consideration.