EU plans new talks on agency workers

This month’s meeting of the EU’s council of ministers will discuss the proposed directive on temporary agency workers which has been blocked since 2002.

The European Commission first brought forward the proposal to give temporary agency workers the same rights as permanent workers in March 2002. It was discussed in the European Parliament the same year and by November a slightly amended proposal was presented to the council of ministers. It has remained stuck at this stage ever since because a minority of member states, including the UK, have blocked its progress.

But now the 2002 amended proposal is back on the agenda for next month’s meeting. In this version the right to equal treatment for temporary agency workers is limited to those who have been employed for at least six weeks — unions would like these rights to be in place from the first day of employment.

The Portuguese government, which currently holds the rotating six-month EU presidency, hopes that the deadlock can be ended — with the support of some of the EU’s new member states playing a key part in this.

Speaking to the TUC in September, for the first time as prime minister, Gordon Brown promised to support an agency workers directive. However, in the same month the CBI called on the government to reject “pressure for a new EU law”. Brown will have to decide what sort of directive he wants.