Unite Study in UK Finds Rampant Abuse of Agency Workers

One of ICEM’s UK affiliates, Unite, has released a comprehensive study detailing the use and misuse of agency workers in the UK. The union, Britain’s largest and the product of a recent merger between Amicus and the Transport and General Workers Union, released the results of the study to the Department of Trade and Industry early this month.

The study finds systematic abuse and misuse of agency and temporary workers at some of the most visible corporations operating in UK, including Coca-Cola, BMW, Harper Collins Publishers, Norwich Union, Honda, Unisys, and WH Smith. The study was conducted by Unite’s Amicus section, throughout the sectors of manufacturing, finance, construction, and graphical/media.

“Regardless of how you define a McJob, many employers are using agency workers to undermine pay and conditions, and replace permanent workers with cheaper, less qualified labour, leaving hundreds of thousands in a cycle of insecure and low-paid employment,” stated Derek Simpson, Unite Joint General Secretary.

The study cites a situation at Unisys in which a contract employer, Right4Staff Agency, had up to five South African data-processing workers share one bed. The workers took turns sleeping, with those not sleeping being at work. At a Honda Civic plant in Swindon, due to growth in sales, the Japanese automaker found it needed an additional 800 workers. But rather than hire and train full-time, permanent staff, local managers turned to an agency called Best Connection. Workers from this agency are paid ₤2-an-hour less than the Honda starting rate and receive a third less holidays.

At Coca-Cola in Wakefield, an agency specifically recruits Polish workers to do quality checking at ₤7-an-hour, nearly half the hourly wage negotiated by Amicus at the plant, and they miss out on a 38% shift allowance. At a BMW plant in Hams Hall, the company’s canteen operates with a two-tier pricing system – with prices higher for temporary staff. Some temp workers at BMW here have laboured for more than five years without being called for full-time employment.

Unite blames the UK government with failing to provide equal employment rights to agency and temporary workers, despite a commitment from the 2004 Warwick agreement to do so. That agreement saw the Blair government pledge to implement the measures contained in the proposed EU Directive on Temporary and Agency Workers. Nothing was done.

“We expect the new leadership of the Labour government to right this wrong, and implement the measures contained in the proposed (directive),” said Simpson.

Earlier this year, a private member’s bill in Parliament brought by Labour MP Paul Farelly of Newcastle-under-Lyme was introduced that would have given agency workers the same rights, pensions, and working conditions as full-time workers. But the bill was talked out and denied a vote in the House of Commons.