Brussels, 16/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - Bernadette Tesch-Segol, Regional secretary of UNI-Europa (trade unions) and Fred van Haasteren, Chairman of EURO-CIETT (International Confederation of Temporary Work Businesses - employers), jointly signed a declaration on 8 October that should prepare the ground for a new European directive on temporary work, aimed at better protecting temporary workers and highlighting the positive role this type of work may play on the European labour market. This declaration was handed the same day to Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou.
Through their joint declaration the sector's social partners: 1) recommend a 13-point formula to the EU, among which we find non-discrimination and equal treatment between interim workers and full-timers, trade union rights, protection through work legislation and access to training; 2) urge Member States to review laws that could limit the positive role of interim work; 3) demand innovation in social protection schemes, like pensions for agency workers, which requires transferable rights; 4) recognise that the right to temporary work is a means of improving employment and labour market integration possibilities "especially for specific and/or disadvantaged groups".
"We know that workers passing through temping agencies only represent a minority of the workforce, but this agreement greatly strengthens their rights and should offer the possibility to a larger number of the unemployed to reintegrate the labour market" commented Bernadette Tesch-Segol.