Agency workers win landmark tribunal

The Unite general union, formed following the merger of Amicus and the T&G last month, was claiming a major victory for the rights of agency workers last month following a tribunal ruling in favour of a group of Polish workers. This said they should be considered as employees rather than self-employed workers. The ruling followed an appeal by agency Consistent Group Ltd against an earlier Employment Appeal Tribunal decision.

In the case of Kalwak and others v Consistent, the union's members, who worked at Welsh Country Foods in Cheshire, were evicted from their accommodation following dismissal in 2005.

The tribunal said it noted: "the absence of rights - holiday pay, fringe benefits, the right to complain of unfair dismissal." In addition, the claimants were "discouraged from union membership".

The ruling now allows Unite to claim for the unfair dismissal of its members as well as their victimisation for trade union activities.

Joint general secretary of Unite Tony Woodley described the judgement as "an unequivocal statement on the employment rights of agency workers".

He said: "There are thousands and thousands of workers across Britain who are subject to appalling treatment because of agency exploitation of their vulnerability, and this judgement has blown their so-called 'self-employed' status out of the water."