Justice for Agency Workers - the Fight Continues

The CWU have campaigned for equal treatment rights for agency workers for many years as we have first hand experience of the precarious nature of agency working, and the level of discrimination that our members face as far as their terms and conditions of employment are concerned.

For many young workers employment agencies are the main way into employment as many big companies have either hived of their recruitment functions or outsourced to other companies. The CWU have questioned for many years whether agency working acts as a gateway into permanent employment for staff or whether it can trap agency workers into a cycle of insecure and often low paid employment. The union has challenged employers including BT as to whether agency working has also been used to displace permanent forms of employment and to avoid basic employment protections.

The CWU campaign for equal treatment has been a long and arduous road involving the local branches and our agency members directly lobbying their MP's to have the terms of the EU Temporary Agency Workers Directive agreed by the UK.

In 2008 the EU Temporary Agency Workers Directive was finally adopted. Agreement on the Directive was in part facilitated by an agreement reached in the UK between the CBI, the TUC and Government.

This agreement now forms the basis of the Agency Workers Regulations which was laid before Parliament in January 2010 and was adopted before the General Election although the new rights will not come into effect until October 2011.

The Directive must be implemented in the UK by November 2011.

The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 is a lengthy and extremely complex document and implementation will include provision based on the agreement reached on the 20^th May 2008 between the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) that agency workers should receive equal treatment on basic working and employment conditions after 12 weeks in a given job.

This also includes basic pay, hourly rate, performance related pay, bonuses, holiday pay, overtime, shift premia, hours including night work, allowances, holidays including holiday pay and ability to take leave.

The CWU is currently working with the TUC on how the terms of the UK regulations will be implemented and identifying areas of concern where employers and agencies will seek to avoid equal treatment.

That work is ongoing and we will shortly be reporting to branches on our plans for the future and how the regulations will affect our members.

Sally Bridge
Assistant Secretary