Public and Commercial Services Union

Agency workers are often worried that campaigning for their rights might threaten their jobs.

This is a legitimate fear as agency workers do have less protection from dismissal than their permanent colleagues.

Through a strong campaign, however, and with the support of colleagues on permanent contracts, it is possible to achieve a better deal for agency workers.

Encourage agency workers to join the union

Experience in this area shows that making temporary workers aware that they are not alone does help to encourage them to join the union.

Explaining the injustice to permanent staff and seeking their support by attending a meeting, signing a petition or talking to colleagues are ways of successfully involving them in the campaign.

A good example of this sort of solidarity comes from the Learning and Skills Council where there is a very real threat that agency workers will be discarded because of pressure to cut costs and staff.

Activists persuaded their colleagues of the unfair deal that agency workers get and as a result permanent staff were willing to raise the issue and campaign on it.

Campaigning for agency workers’ rights in the workplace is a new area for us, so it is important to plan and be clear about what we want to achieve. We need to be realistic so as not to raise people’s expectations and then be unable to deliver.

Make sure you have all the facts both about the rights of agency workers and also the local situation for workers and the scope of the agency contract.

Regional organisers can offer support

Remember full time regional organisers are experienced in assisting members organising in these areas and will be a valuable source of support.

Your full time regional organiser can give you advice on how to proceed in:

• establishing a bargaining unit
• starting discussions about the feasibility of a recognition campaign
• getting direct debit forms for people to join
• establishing a subscriptions rate
• adding an employment agency as an employer for your local branch on Commix, and making sure that new members are allocated to the correct place on Commix

Before you start a campaign

Before you begin a workplace campaign there are a number of things you need to think about:

How many agency workers are employed? You need to know the size of the potential membership.

Are they all from the same agency? If not, this will cause problems in seeking recognition and will make it more difficult to negotiate with an employer. It might also mean that people have different conditions.

Are they contained in one area/work type/project etc? What is the scope of the agency contract? Are they confined to your office locally or across the whole of the group?

What is the length of time they have been placed in their position? The longer the service – particularly if they are not there to cover for a specific reason such as a sickness absence – the easier it is to argue against them receiving worse pay and terms and conditions than the people they work alongside.

Agency workers are unlikely to gain additional rights for having been there one year because of their employment status. Find out more about agency workers' rights.

Do we already have a recognition agreement for these workers? Does any other union have recognition or are we able to seek recognition for these workers?

How can your branch represent these workers once they are members? You need to think about how the branch will deal with personal cases if they arise and complications that might occur in seeking to represent people in this situation.

It would be best to seek guidance from your PCS regional organiser on any limitations. You might also need to discuss with your local management the arrangements for representing agency workers.

How will I get appropriate information? It is important to think about how you will get information because the usual avenues of talking to your departmental management or the agency might not be available.

Contact headquarters research, information services or campaigns for more advice. And consider doing a survey, as explained further below.

Where to begin campaign?

Choosing an issue

It is important to pick issues that will make people interested in joining the union.

These need to be issues that workers can relate to. It should be an issue around which the vast majority of staff feel strongly something that needs to change and which, with effort, it would be possible to change.

We need to get feedback from members or potential members to find the right issues to campaign on. The best methods for doing this are talking to members one to one, holding workplace meetings and conducting surveys.

Making a plan

Think about timescales for a campaign and be clear about the different steps and targets you will want throughout your campaign. This plan will of course need to stay flexible.

Mapping agency workers

As agency workers are not employed directly by the government department you might find it more difficult to get accurate information and will need to look at more inventive ways to get the information you need.

You might consider doing a simple survey asking:

• the type of work and department/area they work in
• length of service
• agency they work for
• if they are a member of the union
• concerns about work related issues.

It is also important to get people’s contact details so you can follow them up and ask them to join.

Choosing activists

Find people willing to be activists and contacts for the agency workers that you are rying t organise. Find a natural leader someone that people will respect and listen to. You might want to think of mentoring new reps, so they have someone to ask questions and where they feel like they can go for help and advice.

Recruiting agency workers and adding them to Commix

All agency workers should join PCS via a direct debit application form and will pay a reduced subscription rate to reflect the fact that a collective bargaining agreement does
not cover them. They may also qualify for six months’ free subscriptions.

Agency workers should be allocated to the same workplace on Commix as other PCS members in that workplace, although a new employer will probably need to be created on Commix for them.

This will ensure that they have equal rights within the union to other members and will be able to vote in branch and other elections.

Please note: It is important that before you start recruiting agency workers you speak to a PCS fulltime regional organiser to set up these details on Commix. If this is not done, it is possible that the form could be returned or the new member could be allocated to the incorrect workplace or branch and/or the wrong subscription rate could be levied.

Negotiating change with employers

We are campaigning nationally for agency workers, where they are employed, to be paid at a rate equivalent to that for permanent workers and to have equal holiday and sick pay, and to be treated fairly.

We are raising the issue centrally with the government. However, the most effective work will be taken forward in groups and at a local level.

Permanent posts

Raise the demand that work should be done by staff in permanent posts – or if it is genuinely short-term by staff on fixed term appointments – with your employer. If appropriate, negotiate a phased approach to reach this objective.

Argue that in the context of job cuts the employer should not be spending large sums of money on agency fees.

Under the agreement with the Cabinet Office on avoiding compulsory redundancy (known as ‘the protocols’) the employer must look to surplus staff in other departments to fill any vacancies.

Argue that if they still need to recruit then they should conduct proper, fair and open recruitment which would give agency workers the opportunity to apply.

Try to get the employer to arrange skills training and negotiate on the job criteria to ensure agency workers have a fair chance to apply. An example where this has been achieved is the Rural Payments Agency in Workington.

Where agency workers are used in justifiable, limited and short-term circumstances, this should only be by agreement with union negotiators. Please let us know about any agreements you reach.

Comparable pay and terms and conditions for agency and permanent workers

Argue for comparable pay and terms and conditions.

Gather information on current pay and term and conditions to use in local campaigning. Please pass this information to the Protect Public Service unit at PCS HQ.

Seek agreement in your department, agency, NDPB or other organisation for agency workers, where employed, to be paid at an equivalent rate, to get equal holidays and sick pay, and to be treated fairly.

Negotiate with the organisation supplying agency workers
Try to influence the process early on, in relation to circumstances for use, and pay and terms and conditions. Try to get your department to agree only to accept tenders from agencies who pay their workers well and offer decent terms and conditions.

Contact the Protect Public Services Unit for more advice on this.