EU 'temps' granted equal rights

Many MEPs believe agency staff are discriminated against

The European Parliament has approved a bill that gives agency workers the same employment rights as permanent staff.

The so-called "temps" will now have the same guarantees in terms of pay, working hours, maternity and annual leave from the day they join a company.

However, agency workers in Britain could enjoy the same rights only after 12 weeks, following an earlier deal between unions and employers.

Critics warn the new bill will have a negative impact on small businesses.

"On the brink of a recession, MEPs have done exactly the wrong thing: they've passed a law that will lead to fewer jobs and make life even harder for small businesses," Mats Persson of Britain's Open Europe research think-tank said.

The original bill was tabled back in 2002. It would have given agency workers equal rights only after six weeks in the job.

There are some eight million temps across the 27-member EU, about 1.4 million of them in the UK.

Hiring of them has boomed in recent years across Europe because of their flexibility compared with workers on permanent contracts.

Liberal Democrat MEP Liz Lynne described it as the "least-worst deal" for the UK.

The UK already has an opt-out from the EU's 48-hour working week - a rule established by the working time directive. That directive undermines labour market flexibility, the UK government has argued.

Ms Lynne said the UK government must ensure that the new directive on temps "is implemented in a way that recognises the concerns of employers and recruitment agencies and avoids adding unnecessary bureaucracy and cost to the provision of agency workers".