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TUC goes to bat for temps

Temporary staff get the brunt of poor treatment at work, according to Trades Union Congress leader Brendan Barber. Mr Barber is calling for new rights for temporary and agency workers after revealing a series of cases reported to the trade union movement.

Speaking at the TUC’s meeting in Brighton at the weekend, he said that Polish workers were being paid as little as £2 an hour for a 70-hour week without breaks. One worker was sacked on the spot after asking if he could have a holiday. In another case, a home worker had no rights to sick leave, holiday pay or redundancy protection and was paid 60p for sewing a pair of trousers.

Mr Barber blamed disreputable employment agencies for being ‘at the heart of many of the abuses’ and he called on the Government to sign up to a planned EU directive on rights for agency staff.

He said: There are so many issues to tackle in this dark underbelly of British life. “Now is the time to think again about employment agencies. It is time for another minimum wage moment – time to stop standing up for the bad agencies who undercut the good and threaten the reputation of all.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .