The employment ministers of Europe are meeting today, Wednesday 5 December, to discuss the proposed Agency Workers Directive.

The directive was proposed in 2002 and is intended to give agency workers the same rights as permanent employees after just six weeks. However, successive presidencies of the European Union have failed to get it off the ground and there has been much uncertainty surrounding it.

Jonathan Exten-Wright, an employment partner at DLA Piper, said that the arguments against the directive are not as sound as they might seem.

“Agency workers often receive a wage premium because they are not afforded all the benefits of permanent staff. Surely then, in the short to medium term that flexibility remains unchanged, even if the directive were enforced, employers can begin and end contracts as they see fit within the first year of employment; but instead will see wages between temporary and permanent staff more aligned.

“The $64,000 question is what will be the overall effect on flexibility, productivity and cost – obviously at this stage no one can tell, but let’s not necessarily assume that it will be negative.”

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) is calling on all European governments to ensure that any agreement does not limit job creation.

Helen Reynolds, the REC’s acting chief executive officer, said: “There simply isn’t the abuse on the ground to support the need for this directive. It is not in the interests of recruitment agencies to treat agency workers badly, as without them they would not have a business. The REC supports good terms and conditions for agency workers but the current provisions in the directive on agency work would only add bureaucracy and uncertainty to the recruitment of temps, thus limiting job opportunities.”

In a recent story on HR Zone, it was reported that the Trades Union Congress believes the directive should be put in place and warned ministers that there would be a political price to be paid if they resisted the new rights.