Brussels, 23/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - After more than six years of negotiations, the new Community directive on temporary agency work is finally about to become law. On Wednesday 22 October, the European Parliament adopted the report by Harlem Désir (PES, France) on this issue (second reading, co-decision), approving, without amendment, the joint position of the Council of Ministers of 15 September (see EUROPE 9746). Parliament rejected the seven GUE amendments. Member states will have up to three years to incorporate the directive into their national laws.
Over 3 million people are engaged in temporary agency work in the EU. They are employed by roughly 20,000 companies which have a turnover of €75 billion, Désir said during the debate on Monday 20 October. The temporary agency workers directive will ensure: - equal treatment with permanent workers for temporary agency workers from day one, in terms of basic working and employment conditions (including pay, holidays, working time, rest periods and maternity leave) unless social partners agree otherwise; - equal access to collective facilities (such as canteens, child care facilities and transport services); - better access for agency workers to training, both when working on an assignment and between assignments.
Désir pointed out that, when adopting its joint position in June, the Council had come to the European Parliament's position. He also felt that equal treatment from day one ought to be the general rule and that any exception to this principle should be agreed by social partners through collective negotiations or through agreements with social partners at national level. The Council joint position had retained the amendments on access to employment, facilities, vocational training and the right to representation of temporary workers under the same conditions as permanent workers in the user company. The European Confederation of Trade Unions said that the adoption of this directive without any amendments was a welcome signal showing that social progress at European Union level was necessary and possible and that Social Europe was alive and well.
European Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Vladimir Spidla said: “Today's vote is a major step forward for Social Europe, guaranteeing protection for all agency workers in Europe”. He hoped that the vote would “pave the way for a quick agreement” on the working time directive, after the hard-won compromise at the EU Council of Ministers in June. He also hoped that an agreement on overhauling the European works council directive “along the lines of the Commission's proposal and the joint advice of the social partners” could be found quickly. (L.C./transl.rt)