EU puts a price on agency staff
Last month I went to Brussels to take part in a European Policy Centre debate on the proposed EC Agency Workers Directive.
The directive's aim is to stop exploitation of temporary staff by preventing hirers using long-term temporary staff on less favourable terms and conditions when they should be employing someone on a permanent basis.
Temporary workers would be entitled to the same pay and conditions as permanent staff.
This is an admirable aim, but the issues are more complicated.
The level of debate at the European Parliament among MEPs, trade associations and unions was out of touch. Union representatives implied that all temporary workers were being badly exploited.
In the UK, this is simply not true. In Europe, collective bargaining between employer representatives and union representatives is the norm, so setting standard terms and conditions for temporary workers is easier.
In the UK we are far more flexible, and temporary working is popular. In the UK more than one million people - one in three of all temps across Europe - choose temping. Temps are an essential part of the hospitality employment mix.
It is a great way for people such as students and female returners to balance their responsibilities. Long-term unemployed find it a successful route back into employment and for those wanting to assess a new location or a new place of work it can be a wise choice.
This directive is not really aimed at the UK. The Government has introduced an amendment allowing caterers to employ temps on existing terms for the first six weeks. But this is still open to negotiation.
The consequences of the directive are that labour costs will rise as the administration burden on both hirers and agencies increases, temporary opportunities will plummet, and temps will see greater variation in rates of pay for different assignments.
The principle behind the proposal is sound. Temporary staff deserve fair pay and conditions. However, a more realistic approach might be to allow agencies to set rates for pay with their temporary workers, let employers set other basic working conditions such as health and safety, rest periods, etc, and allow individual states to determine a threshold that reflects national labour markets.
The hospitality industry must call on the EU to clarify and amend the terms of the directive. Employers must be involved in the debate at European and national level.
If the directive is not amended, agency work will cease as we know it. There will be fewer temp opportunities and employers will pay the price for a less flexible workforce.
Sarah Anderson is chief executive of the Mayday Group, a member of the CBI Employment Policy Committee, and a member of the Employment Tribunal System Task Force
