Council of ministers pushes for compromise on agency workers

Last month the European Union's Council of Ministers, the representatives of member states, agreed on the need to move forward on the agency workers' directive. It asked civil servants to look at whether a compromise between the opposing positions on the directive, particularly over time limits, was possible.

The proposed directive which was put forward by the European Commission in March 2002, aims to safeguard the position of temporary agency workers and ensure that they are treated broadly the same as comparable permanent workers. However, the directive as proposed by the Commission, says that if agency workers work for a company for less than six weeks they would not be required to be paid the same amount as permanent workers.

For the UK government this period is much too short, while the UK employers' body, the CBI has called for it to be extended to 12 months. The TUC on the other hand wants the six-week period to be removed.

The European Parliament, which finally must agree the text with the Council of Ministers, also wants the six-week limit to be abolished but only after five years.

The text will be discussed further between the Council and the Parliament later this year but the fact that the Council agreed on the need to make progress makes a final compromise more likely.