EQUAL TREATMENT FOR AGENCY WORKERS

That this House notes that over 100 hon. Members attended the House on Friday 2nd March to support the Temporary Agency Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Bill; congratulates the trades unions on their campaigns to highlight the unfair treatment from which many thousands of agency workers continue to suffer; is concerned by the findings of recent reports from the Trades Union Congress showing that agency workers generally receive less pay and are engaged on worse terms and conditions than permanent workers in both the private and public sectors; further notes that such problems may deepen in the future with increasing casualisation of the workforce; urges the Department of Trade and Industry to take account of such evidence of deep-seated discrimination in its consultation on vulnerable workers; believes that an effective European Directive to give equal treatment to agency workers will not be implemented within the lifetime of this parliament; and calls on the Government to introduce domestic legislation as soon as possible to address the issue, thereby fulfilling the pledge made to the trades unions in the Warwick Agreement and bolstering the progressive measures already introduced to improve the lives of hard-working families and tackle the causes of child poverty.