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UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings with Ann Selin, PAM Finland Bernadette Ségol Frank Bsirske

UNI-Europa’s Executive, meeting in Istanbul, has backed a proposed joint declaration aimed at improving the chances of winning a European directive to cover Temporary Work Agencies and give temporary workers equal treatment. The declaration was hammered out by negotiators from UNI-Europa and social partner the European temporary work agencies’ organisation Eurociett. It urges the European Union to set a regulatory framework for temporary agency work with “the equal treatment principle for temporary agency workers with regard to their basic working and employment conditions”. This would mean that workers placed in companies by temp agencies would be entitled from day one to the basic conditions of the company workers they work with. Changes in individual states to what the document calls this “non-discrimination principle” would have to be negotiated with the unions or through tripartite (union, employer and government) bodies. A decision from the Eurociett council on the negotiated draft is due in a few days and the aim is to influence Ministers of the 27 European states - who meet in June - to get the long delayed Temporary Work Agency directive back on track. The document also urges the EU not to prejudice national laws that forbid temp agency workers being used to break strikes. The declaration recognises that “an EU regulatory framework on temporary agency work (TAW) should be in the interest of both business and workers”.

It also recognises that “temporary agency work can, under the proper conditions, play a positive role in the labour market”.

M ember states would have to consult with unions and employers before exempting workers on long-term contracts with the temp agencies (whether they are assigned to a company or not) from the non-discrimination principle.



Many European states already have established the principle of equal treatment for temp workers assigned to companies and - in countries like Belgium - have collective agreements to protect these workers.

In other countries temp agencies are still in the infancy or are not clearly covered by agreements or legislation.

A directive setting minimum standards of treatment would not weaken unions in countries with good agreements already, UNI-Europa President Frank Bsirske told the Executive. “This can serve as a basis for our political actions in the coming days.”

UNI-Europa Regional Secretary Bernadette Ségol told the Executive of the favourable response of the ETUC to the draft joint declaration. She urged unions to lobby their national governments over the coming weeks to incorporate the principles contained in the draft joint declaration into a Temporary Work Agency directive.

The proposed directive has been held up for several years by countries led by the United Kingdom. But the troubled Labour government there has now softened its position in talks with UK unions, the Executive was told.