- You are here:
- Home
- > Media Centre
- > Current News
Current News
Government must apply brakes to ensure new EU directive does not costs drivers their jobs
Released on 6 August 2009
The close of the consultation on the Agency Workers Directive on 31st July was a significant milestone in the implementation of controversial new EU regulations that have been debated in Brussels and Whitehall since 1999. The Directive provides for equal treatment between agency drivers and direct recruits after 12 weeks of an assignment. After what has been a heavily politicised debate, it is now down to the practicalities of how EU regulations, that are ill-suited to the agency work model in the UK, can best be implemented. Through the work of the Agency Work Commission and the feedback of thousands of recruitment professionals in the driving sector, the REC has developed a blueprint for implementing the Agency Workers Directive Commenting on what is at stake with the new regulations, Mike McIntyre, Vice Chair of REC Drivers said: “The AWD is going to be about immense challenges for recruiters in driving. It is often impossible to make an exact comparison with a permanent employee, especially in the drivers sector, where there are often no formalised pay bands. Where there are no formalised pay bands, there cannot be a basis for establishing equal treatment. “The Government needs to seriously consider the practical implications of how the Directive can operate in an industry where agency drivers can work for many different clients in the same week. Otherwise we could see a reduction in the number of jobs".Key demands from the REC include:
- The definition of pay should be restricted to basic hourly rate. Finding out different rates of holiday pay, bonuses and overtime rates for each individual assignment will be very onerous.
- Comparators should not be used to establish equal treatment in the first instance. Even people doing broadly similar jobs are, in many instances, on different rates of pay. Where permanent employees are on published pay scales this should be the first step to establishing equal treatment.
- Temp to perm fees do not act as a barrier to permanent employment and should not be tampered with in these Regulations.
- The availability of agency workers as a flexible labour resource will be key for businesses when we come out of the downturn. Given this, the Directive should not be implemented until the last possible moment in 2011.
- Government needs to seriously consider the practical implications of how the Directive can operate. In a survey of the REC sector group 58% said it was going to be difficult to abide by the Government’s proposal to keep workers informed about employment vacancies with the client.
