Agency rights bill passes second reading
A private member’s bill which would improve temporary workers’ rights has moved to committee stage in the Commons.
Labour MP Andrew Miller’s legislation, which proposes a strengthened regulatory regime safeguarding agency workers’ rights, was passed by 147 votes to 11 on its second reading.
There are over 1.4 million agency workers in the UK who Mr Miller, the member for Ellesmere Port and Neston, believes should be entitled to the same terms and conditions, like sick pay, currently only available to permanent employees.
He warns the UK will not be able to achieve its goal of attaining a “high-skill, high-pay economy that is based upon a well-trained workforce” without the reforms he proposes.
The bill is aimed at “rogue agencies” which Mr Miller alleges exploit workers in what in some cases “can only be described as a ‘Dickensian’ setup,” he said.
Ministers are opposing the legislation but strong support from the Labour backbenches could overcome their opposition to the bill.
Shadow business secretary Alan Duncan said ‘Old Labour’ MPs were “running rampant” over the government on the bill.
“Gordon Brown could save himself a lot of bitten fingernails by admitting that these proposals are unnecessary and damaging to business – putting jobs on the line and stability at risk,” he said.
There are fears the government will succeed in limiting the bill’s further progress in committee stage, however.
Mr Miller’s draft legislation has the backing of the unions, which say the 2004 Warwick agreement obliges them to push for reform of agency workers at the national as well as the European level.
The Unite union’s joint deputy general secretary Tony Dubbins told the Today programme the government has “obligations. to agency and temporary workers and to the public generally”.
But John Cridland, deputy director general of the Confederation of British Industry, said existing rules were sufficient to protect temporary workers’ rights.
“Any firms that do mistreat their temporary staff are breaking existing rules and deserve to be hauled over the coals,” he commented.
“This type of abuse demands more effective enforcement, not a raft of new laws.”
