The mistreatment of agency workers
February 19, 2008
Following on from my previous post about agency worker rights (4th February), I’ve just read that Unite, a large Trade Union has conducted an investigation into the treatment of agency workers.
The investigation was carried out in a Cook Report style, with an undercover manufacturing worker, “Simon”, working for six weeks for apparently reputable employment agencies in the Wolverhampton area. The results weren’t good: Simon was paid a poor wage and apparently had illegal deductions taken from his wage, as well as being asked to operate machinery without appropriate training. The Union claims that this sort of treatment constitutes exploitation rather than flexibility, and the life of an agency worker is one of “hardship, desperation and a weekly struggle to make ends meet”.
Having carried out temporary assignments for agencies myself in the past, I understand that there is a certain amount of insecurity due to the lack of rights for agency workers. However I have also employed agency workers who turn up as and when they wish, with no communication and the attitude that they do not need to behave in the same way as a “regular” employee – so it works both ways. In the past I have enjoyed many benefits of temporary work, such as fitting it around my education, holidays, and anything else I wished to do at quite short notice; things that are not as easy for me to do now I am in full time permanent employment. It is possible that legislation that brings new rights for agency workers will also bring new obligations that reduce the level of flexibility they are able to enjoy.
I’m sure there are some agency workers that are exploited by unscrupulous agencies and employers, but I’m not particularly convinced of this by one example reported over six weeks. There are a number of people and organisations that don’t agree that there is a problem with agency worker rights, including the CIPD. Earlier this month Mike Emmott, employee relations adviser from the Institute said in response to the proposed EU Directive on Agency Worker Rights: “In the UK this Directive is an answer to a non-problem. Temporary workers are not an under-privileged and disaffected group. Many of them have chosen temporary work because of their lifestyle”.
Further developments are expected in this area in the near future, so I’ll keep my eye out for any news.
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