Agency Work Directive - One size does not fit all

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 28th May 2002

A mini hearing in the European Parliament was held today to discuss the new EU Directive on temporary workers (agency work) which is being brought before the European Parliament. Liz Lynne, Liberal Democrat MEP for the West Midlands, speaking at the hearing said :

" I am very concerned that this EU directive is being brought forward because a one size directive will not fit the needs of all member states."

" We all have very different experiences on dealing with Agency Work. The UK and the Netherlands have far more temporary workers than many other countries. Greece for instance has no history of temporary work agencies."

" If we are not careful we could destroy employment prospects for temporary workers. Although I believe in protection for these workers, it is better done at Member State level. They are however, already covered on health and safety grounds and working time, so I hope if this directive does go ahead that we will give a great deal of flexibility to Member States in interpreting it and implementing it."

Liz Lynne went on to say " The temporary workers are the ones who will be mainly affected by this directive and it seems incredible to me that not enough research has been done into why they do temporary work in the first place."

Liz Lynne repeated her call for proper impact assessments to be done on all new legislation before they are proposed.