EMPLOYERS COULD be forced to provide temporary agency workers with the same pay and conditions as full-time staff under a draft EU law likely to be agreed on Monday.
Ireland, which teamed up with Britain to block the law last December, has signalled it is now willing to agree a compromise rather than risk being outvoted in Brussels on the issue.
Under pressure from trade unions, Britain dropped its opposition to providing full labour rights to agency workers last month and brokered a social partnership deal between the Confederation of British Industry and the Trade Union Confederation.
Under this deal, temporary agency workers will now receive full labour rights after 12 weeks of service.
Slovenia, which holds the rotating EU presidency, will table a compromise proposal to EU labour ministers on Monday on the Temporary Agency Workers Directive, which takes account of this British agreement.
The draft directive would normally give agency workers equal pay and conditions from day one of starting work. But a derogation in the proposal says that if unions and employers agree their own social partnership deal in consultation with governments then labour rights can be delayed in line with that deal.
A Slovene spokesman said he was hopeful the compromise would be accepted by EU states.
If the directive is agreed on Monday it means that employer groups will have to negotiate to ensure that a new social partnership agreement sets a time limit before agency workers acquire full rights. The default position within the draft directive is that temporary agency workers will get the right to equal pay and conditions from day one.
Ibec director Brendan McGinty said yesterday it had lobbied the Government to ensure an outcome which would allow for a derogation from the principle of equal treatment through a variety of measures.
"This must be facilitated and any agreement at EU level must recognise the wide divergence of approaches adopted by member states to this issue," he said.
"It is Ibec's position that an acceptable outcome on this issue will be necessary as a condition of an overall social partnership agreement in Ireland which is acceptable to employers."
Siptu estimates that there are between 30,000 to 50,000 temporary agency workers in the Republic in fields such as construction, retail and tourism. It wants equal pay and conditions to apply from day one so that temporary workers are not working alongside colleagues earning more money for doing the same job.
"We want direct employment to be the normal basis of employment," said Patricia King, regional secretary with Siptu. "Since opening the borders in the EU we have seen a huge increase in the use of agency workers and no semblance of equal treatment."
A Government spokeswoman would not comment yesterday on its negotiating position going into Monday's talks.
EU diplomats said agreement on the temporary agency workers directive was likely on Monday, although France and some other member states had still not made a final decision to support the compromise due to concerns over a related proposal, the working time directive, a key piece of social legislation introduced by the EU in 1993. The law limits the time an employee can work in a week to 48 hours. Britain negotiated an opt-out then which it is now proposing to make permanent, something France has concerns about.