Joint declaration agreed on temporary agency work

A joint declaration between the EU-level sectoral social partners in the temporary agency work sector was concluded on 8 October 2001. The signatory parties hope that the 13-point declaration will serve as a basis for an EU Directive regulating this area, following the breakdown of EU-level intersectoral negotiations on this issue.

A [joint declaration on temporary agency work](http://www.ciett.org/Press_Releases/JOINT DECLARATION EU DIRECTIVE - FINAL081001.htm) was signed on 8 October 2001 by Euro-CIETT- the European committee of the International Confederation of Temporary Work Businesses- and Uni-Europa- the European regional organisation of Union Network International (UNI), the international organisation grouping services and white-collar worker' trade unions. The declaration was negotiated within the framework of the European sectoral social dialogue committee for temporary agency work, which started work in July 2000.

The signatories have forwarded the text to the European Commission, stating that they hope that it will serve as a basis for a future EU Directive on temporary work.

Background

Intersectoral EU-level talks on the issue of an agreement on temporary agency work between the central social partners – the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), the Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE)/European Association of Craft and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (UEAPME) and the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest (CEEP) - had commenced in May 2000 (EU0005245N), following a consultation process over possible legislation in this area launched by the European Commission. However, the negotiations broke down conclusively in May 2001 (EU0106215N), largely over the issue of comparators in the user company. The Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner, Anna Diamantopoulou, subsequently stated that the Commission would be drawing up a statutory instrument to regulate temporary agency work, in order to complete EU-level regulation of 'atypical' work – adding to Directives, based on EU-level social partner texts, already regulating part-time work (EU9706131F) and fixed-term work (EU9901147F).

Following the breakdown of the intersectoral talks, Euro-CIETT and UNI-Europa issued an initial joint declaration on 3 July 2001, recognising each other as representative organisations in the agency work sector. Having been part of the respective negotiating delegations in the intersectoral talks, the sectoral social partners regretted that these negotiations did not conclude in an agreement. They welcomed the Commission's announcement that it would propose legislation on temporary agency work and called on the Commission to ensure that the sectoral sectoral partners were consulted during the preparation of the proposed legislation, in a manner which allowed for their views and recommendations to be taken into account. The second joint declaration agreed in October 2001, sets out the sectoral social partners' jointly agreed objectives for the draft EU legislation.

Objectives

The October joint declaration states that any EU Directive on temporary agency work should reach a balance between protecting agency workers and enhancing the positive role that agency work can play in the European labour market. It goes on to list 13 objectives which the signatories feel that such a Directive should include. The Directive should:

• stress that non-agency employment and open-ended contracts remain the most common forms of employment, although it should also recognise and respect the potential contribution of agency work to the EU's employment and economic objectives;

• promote quality in temporary agency employment and strike a balance between the needs of workers, user companies and agencies, particularly in the areas of flexibility and security;

• recognise that agency work may enhance job opportunities and labour market integration, particularly in the case of special and/or disadvantaged groups. This could be achieved by means of training and development;

• establish the principle of equal treatment, both in terms of the relationship between the agency and the worker and the relationship between the worker and the user company;

• ask Member States to identify, review and, where appropriate, eliminate obstacles of a legal or administrative nature to agency work playing a positive role in the labour market. It should also recognise that 'certain prohibitions, restrictions and/or regulations' may be necessary to prevent potential abuses, both in terms of undermining employment conditions or workers in the user company and those of other workers in non-agency employment;

• ensure that temporary agency work respects both EU-level and national non-discrimination principles on all issues, and that the 'triangular' nature of agency work 'calls for specific regulations';

• ensure that temporary employment agencies do not make workers available to a user company in order to replace striking workers;

• ensure that Member States promote the exercise of agency workers' individual and collective rights, which include trade union rights;

• state clearly that agency workers are employed by the agency and that these agencies therefore have the obligations of an employer with regard to these workers. Agency workers should also be protected by applicable labour legislation;

• ensure that agency workers have access to training and development opportunities which are appropriate, both in the agency and the user company;

• ensure that agencies do not charge their workers, either directly or indirectly, for employment services;

• encourage the social partners to negotiate on the implementation of the Directive; and

• recognise that innovations in occupational benefit systems (such as pensions) will be necessary to provide for continuity of rights for temporary agency workers.

Reactions

UNI-Europa has hailed this declaration as a 'breakthrough'. Its regional secretary, Bernadette Tesch-Ségol, stated that: 'We hope the EU will now act upon the recommendations and recognise the growing contribution to the European economy made by temporary workers. We recognise that working through agencies will be a minority of the workforce, but this declaration greatly strengthens their rights and should offer the opportunity for more unemployed people to find a way back into the labour market.' Despite the fact that temporary agency working represents a small minority of the workforce, UNI-Europa states it has a role to play in improving the performance of the labour market, maintaining, for example, that 50% of unemployed people who found work in 1995 took temporary employment.

Euro-CIETT has stated that it is 'delighted' to have been able to reach consensus with UNI-Europa on this declaration. The issue of European-level regulation of temporary agency working is central to Euro-CIETT's aims. When the intersectoral EU-level social partner talks broke down in May, Euro-CIETT issued a statement that it deeply regretted the fact that the European social partners had been unable to find a compromise on that occasion. It added that it felt that the agency work industry, and as such the EU labour market as a whole, would have benefited from a European legal framework negotiated by the social partners.

Commentary

This joint declaration, by EU sectoral social partners who are directly involved in the temporary work agency sector, will no doubt serve as an extremely useful framework for the Commission when it comes to drafting a statutory instrument regulating this sector. Although the EU-level intersectoral social partners failed to reach consensus on this issue, this declaration shows that there is common ground between employer and employee representatives on many key issues, such as equal treatment, trade union rights, statutory protection, access to training and a prohibition on agencies charging workers fees to use their services.

The Commission will be anxious to draw up a statutory proposal which is acceptable to all, as it wishes to complete the statutory framework for the regulation of atypical work. Therefore, it is likely that it will use many of the principles set out in this declaration to form the basis of a draft Directive. (Andrea Broughton, IRS)