Britain is set to lose its fight against the implementation of a new directive that will afford temporary workers the same rights as those of permanent employees.

A decision is to be made this Wednesday 5 December 2007 on whether the proposed Directive on Agency Workers should be implemented, giving temps in the UK the right to equal treatment with comparable permanent employees on issues including pay, working time, holidays, maternity rights and protection against discrimination.

The British government is in a minority alongside the Irish, German and Danish governments in opposing the plans. The change would give an estimated 1.3 million agency workers the same rights as permanent staff after just six weeks on assignment.

In September this year, the Confederation of British Industry published its employment trends survey showing that 58 per cent of workers feel if the directive becomes law it would lead to a ‘significant’ cut in the use of temporary workers.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC), who have long campaigned for an end to the abuse of temp workers from unscrupulous bosses says 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.

TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, said: “The Directive, which most of the EU is now backing, could give UK temps new rights to equal treatment from the first day they are taken on. Day one rights would also avoid the danger that unscrupulous employers would get round the law by taking on temps for one day short of the qualifying period.

“Agency workers have been vulnerable to real injustice for far too long. The government should understand the strength of union feeling on this issue. There will be a political price to be paid if the UK government simply follows the business agenda – and not the social justice agenda – and they fail to grasp this new opportunity to break the EU deadlock.”