Greece tasked with solving ‘temps’ dilemma

Date: 05/12/02

By Martin Banks

THE European Commission is on a collision course with MEPs over its directive on agency workers.

Under the current proposals, such workers would be entitled to the same pay, holiday and working-time conditions as equivalent permanent workers after six weeks in the post. But the European Parliament has voted for agency 'temps' to be given the same rights from their first day in a temporary job.

EU employment ministers, meeting in Brussels this week, failed to resolve the issue and it will be left to Greece to find a compromise when they take up the EU's rotating six-month presidency on 1 January.

A spokesman for Employment Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou said: 'The Commission wants to strike a balance between protecting agency workers and ensuring the smooth operation of the labour market. The employment Council failed to reach a political agreement so the Greeks will have to act as mediator on this one.'

The law will improve temps' rights in countries such as the UK and liberalise labour laws in Germany, where regulations make it difficult for firms to hire temporary staff.

Under the directive's terms, the host or 'user' company, rather than the agency that actually employs the worker, would be responsible for ensuring comparability of pay and conditions.

Faced with this administrative burden, the fear is that many firms will cease to employ agency temporary workers.

At the directive's first reading last month, members of the Parliament's employment and social affairs committee rejected a British-backed proposal to exclude temps from the law for their first six weeks with an employer.

Temps make up 800,000 of Britain's 24 million-strong workforce, the highest number in Europe. The proposal still requires a second reading in the Parliament - expected early in the New Year - and will probably require conciliation between the Council of Ministers and the Parliament before it becomes law.

The European Commission is on a collision course with MEPs over its directive on agency workers.