Public and Commercial Services Union

PCS responded to the latest government consultation on equal treatment for agency workers, expressing disappointment at the delay in implementing and concern about the loopholes in the proposed legislation, while welcoming the move towards equal treatment.

PCS response submitted

PCS has submitted a response to the government's consultation on draft regulations to implement the temporary agency workers directive in December 2009. Our response is summarised below, or you can get the full document from imogen@pcs.org.uk. You can download the government’s consultation documents on their website.

In preparing our response we made use of the many helpful contributions from reps and members, including those from agency workers in our latest survey.

We are still interested in hearing from agency workers about their work so that we can gather evidence to argue for better rights for agency workers and so that we can organise effectively. Please take a few minutes to complete our survey.

Please let other agency workers know about this survey and encourage them to complete it too.

Contact imogen@pcs.org.uk or via phone on 020 7801 2639 if you would like to complete it in a different way or would like more information or advice.

We also want to hear from reps and others about their experience of working with agency workers: please contact imogen@pcs.org.uk or via phone on 020 7801 2639

Consultation on new legislation

This consultation was the latest stage in the government consultation process. Read our response to the earlier consultation in July 2009, and read more about the proposed legislation to give agency workers equal treatment rights.

The PCS response key points

We said that equal treatment for this group of workers is long overdue and should be brought in as soon as possible. We expressed disappointment at the government delaying it until October 2011.

While welcoming the regulations we expressed concern about the loopholes which could make them ineffective against employers who seek to avoid giving agency workers equal treatment. Agency workers have to work for 12 weeks in the same job for the same hirer before gaining equal treatment rights, and if they have a six-week break they have to start again. This means that if employers ensure they keep them for less than 12 weeks, or move them around to different jobs or different workplaces or different hirers, then they can easily evade the regulations.

We endorsed the detailed response from the TUC, available in summary on their website, and in full in a PDF on their website.

PCS concerns on agency worker use

PCS is concerned about the way that agency workers are brought in to do the work that should be done by permanent staff, and that this is encouraged by the cuts and efficiency agenda because they do not appear in headcount figures in the same way. This is wasteful because of the fees paid to agencies (while most agency workers receive the minimum wage or a little more), and because of the loss of experience by constantly replacing staff to do the work that needs to be done to provide the services we need.

PCS continuing campaigning and organising

PCS continues to campaign for equal treatment for agency workers, and to raise the issues of inappropriate use of agency workers instead of directly employed staff. We continue to organise workers where appropriate, and this is particularly important if we have industrial action campaigns.

The introduction to our response to the government

Delivering equal treatment for agency workers: PCS response to government consultation December 2009

PCS is the largest trade union representing civil servants and has 10% of its members in the commercial sector. We have 300,000 members including agency workers.

We welcome the opportunity to comment on the government’s consultation on draft regulations to implement the Temporary Agency Workers Directive.

Introduction

Equal treatment rights for agency workers are long overdue, and effective measures should be brought in as soon as possible.

Agency workers are exploited. In the experience of PCS they are almost always used to fill in where government cuts are made but the work must still be done. They often do the same work as permanent staff, often for many years, on lower pay, worse terms and conditions, unequal access to training and with no job security. This has a detrimental impact on them, on their directly employed colleagues, on the workplace and organisation, and on society and the economy as a whole.

PCS has been campaigning with and for agency workers to improve their rights and conditions over many years.

In preparing for these consultations we have conducted surveys and canvassed our members and representatives on the key issues of agency worker employment. In this submission we quote some of the responses from members and representatives.

Many directly employed staff work with agency workers doing the same work and see how they are treated. A comment on our website from a PCS member illustrates some of the problems:

'I have worked with many Agency Workers from XX [agency]. Many have been fabulous workers and fantastic team mates. A wee story of one who recently had the nerve to ask for their contract to be extended. They were told that they were on a week to week contract, that they had easily replaced skills and they had no chance of their contract being extended as their time was up, also that in the meantime they should just keep their head down and work so hard that no one knew they were there. Disgrace - enough said.'

We very much welcome these long overdue measures to give agency workers equal treatment, so are bitterly disappointed that their implementation is being delayed almost as long as possible, to October 2011. Agency workers particularly need improved employment protection in a recession and we strongly disagree that implementation of measures would be a burden on business, would hinder recovery or would cause unemployment.

While welcome, these draft regulations contain loopholes which could make them ineffective against employers seeking to evade them, and they need tightening up to prevent this happening. In addition, we don't believe that they go far enough. Sick pay, pensions, the right to a fair disciplinary grievance hearing, and job security are still not proposed for agency workers, and the 12 week qualifying period excludes many from equal treatment rights. Our response details loopholes and gaps in the regulations, and suggests ways to resolve these problems.

We urge the government to bring in effective legislation to give these exploited workers a genuine improvement in their working lives.

We strongly endorse the detailed response from the TUC.

Complying with the Temporary Agency Workers Directive

We agree with the TUC that the regulations to implement the Temporary Agency Worker Directive in the UK are inadequate to comply with that directive. PCS, the TUC and other unions have argued consistently that agency workers should have real rights to equal treatment on pay and terms and conditions, rights to holiday pay and time off and to working time rights, and that the legislation should not have loopholes allowing unscrupulous employers to evade the legislation.

As the TUC outline in more detail, the regulations do not provide effective anti-avoidance measures as required by the directive. The 12 week qualifying period combined with details of the regulations will allow employers or agencies to move agency workers or change their assignments in order to avoid gaining the right to equal treatment. And other loopholes could allow agencies or employers to use bogus self-employment or other arrangements to ensure that agency workers are not eligible for equal treatment rights.

The regulations do not provide equal treatment on pay because of the definitions proposed, which as the TUC explain do not comply with the directive.

We are also concerned about the proposals for workforce agreements, permanent employment derogation, assessing less favourable treatment on a package basis, the restriction of rights to access to collective facilities, and the liability and penalty clauses.

PCS full response

PCS responded to the proposed draft regulations in detail, tackling each of the headings in the questionnaire, and including examples from our members. The full response is available from imogen@pcs.org.uk.