British agreement on agency workers raises hopes for EU-wide deal

Britain on Tuesday agreed to give temporary – or agency – workers the same rights as permanent workers, with the move widely welcomed by Brussels as offering a window of opportunity to reach an EU-wide deal on the matter.

Under the British agreement, temporary workers would be given the same rights as permanent staff with regard to pay, overtime arrangements and holiday entitlement after 12 weeks spent on a given job.

"This is the right deal for Britain. Today's agreement achieves our twin objectives of flexibility for British employers and fairness for workers," business secretary John Hutton was quoted as saying by AFP.

The move was also welcomed by trade unions, but criticised by business groups who said that it would lead to fewer jobs for temporary workers.

"This is a disastrous deal for small businesses, which rely on the flexibility provided by agency workers," said Tina Sommer, EU and international affairs chair with the Federation of Small Businesses.

For its part, the EU reacted rapidly, hailing the British deal as offering the possibility of breaking a stalemate at the EU level.

Plans for an EU-wide agreement on the matter have been blocked for years, in a large part due to the UK's opposition.

Westminster had previously insisted that the qualifying time period before agency workers could be granted equal treatment to permanent staff should be six months, while Brussels pushed for this period to be between zero and six weeks.

There are currently some eight million temporary workers in the EU, with around 1.4 million of them estimated to be in Britain.

EU employment commissioner Vladimir Spidla stated: "It [the agreement] is a milestone for social dialogue in the UK and an important step towards fair treatment of agency workers both in the UK and in Europe."

Mr Spidla also expressed hopes that following this agreement, an EU deal on agency workers could be reached during the next meeting of the bloc's labour ministers on 9 June.

Additionally, the UK compromise is seen as likely to lead to a breakthrough in talks that have been deadlocked for years on changing working rules across the EU.