Vince Cable has pledged to review the incoming agency workers directive but some employers are warning him not to jeopardise a deal that was previously agreed with the unions.
The CBI and the TUC brokered an agreement stating that temporary workers will get the same pay and working conditions as their permanent counterparts after they have been in a job for 12 weeks. The unions had originally demanded this equality as from day one.
The concern amongst businesses is that if the regulations are changed this could infuriate the unions who will then abandon the 12 week deal and return to their demands for equality from day one.
Business leaders say that giving temporary PAYE workers equal rights from day one will cost company’s more and therefore they will hire fewer temps. And yet one of the attractive features of our labour market is its flexibility. Businesses can respond quickly and effectively to market changes without the need to make a long-term commitment.
Everybody wants to see red tape and bureaucracy reduced so it is imperative that any changes are carefully thought out.
The hospitality industry uses a lot of temps to help out during peak periods and the chief of HR at the Thistle hotel group, Christian Armstrong, said they would think twice about hiring workers from agencies if equal rights kicked in right from the start.
The chairman of the Association of Recruitment Consultants, Adrian Marlowe, said that business leaders were being unnecessarily cautious and that his Association wants the 12 week rule to be more logical and equitable, rather than abolished.
The AWR have to be implemented into UK law by November 2011.
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