A proposed European Commission directive that will give temporary workers the same pay and employment rights as permanent staff was warmly welcomed last night by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, despite strong misgivings by Continental employer representatives and Britain.
The new rules, which will apply to temporary workers after six weeks' continuous employment, have been embraced by the Commission just days after the Barcelona summit agreed that new efforts to streamline their economies should be pursued by member-states.
"This proposal not only seeks to create more jobs but also aims to provide better jobs for temporary agency workers through a basic minimum of protection across the EU," Ms Anna Diamantopoulou, the Commissioner for Labour and Social Affairs, said yesterday.
"We cannot agree with the political concept that employers can benefit from the flexibility of staff and at the same time pay them less," she added.
Temporary workers already have the same rights as their permanent colleagues in most EU countries. Only in Ireland and Britain are there no special laws for them. The British government and employers' organisations are determined to fight the directive, it emerged last night.