Martin Salter, Labour MP for Reading West, has this week welcomed a joint declaration from the TUC, the CBI and the Government to give temporary and agency workers the same employment rights as permanent employees. Labour MPs have been campaigning for several years to end exploitation of some agency workers by rogue employers.

The move comes after MPs voted in support of a Private Members Bill to give such workers the same rights to sick pay, holiday pay, pensions and any other benefits available to permanent employees who do the same job.

The joint declaration states that after 12 weeks in a given job, there will be an entitlement to equal treatment.  Equal treatment is defined to mean ‘at least the basic working and employment conditions that would apply to the workers’ concerned if they had been recruited directly to do the same job.  The proposals will benefit around 70 percent of agency workers.

Speaking from Westminster Mr Salter said:

“I was a strong supporter of both the Temporary and Agency Workers (Equal Treatment) Bills and in the last parliamentary session I signed a House of Commons motion to give equal rights to temporary employees. I am extremely pleased by this move which will prevent bad employers from abusing agency workers. In worst cases there have been examples of employers using migrant labour as agency workers in order to drive down the terms and conditions of indigenous workers, which has fuelled racial tensions.”

He added:

“Many of these individuals have been employed for years doing the same jobs as ‘permanent’ staff, but are not entitled to the same rights and benefits. I am especially encouraged by the level of cooperation between the business community, trades unions and the Government, demonstrating a strong consensus on the need to stamp out unfair employment practices.”