12 December, 2011IMF's British affiliate Unite has warned car maker BMW that it could face industrial action in 2012 unless it reverses plans to close its pension scheme to new starters and use a legal loop-hole to deny agency staff equal pay.
UNITED KINGDOM: German automaker BMW in the beginning of December informed Unite that it intended to close its final salary pension scheme to new starters in the UK and that it wants to exploit a legal loophole in the Agency Workers Regulation called the 'Swedish derogation' to deny agency staff equal pay with regular employees after 12 weeks of employment.
The 'Swedish derogation,' named after a concession in the EU Temporary Agency Work Directive, means that a temp worker with an employment contract with an agency is not protected by the equal treatment provisions in the Directive.
Unite National Officer Roger Maddison said: "BMW face a New Year of unrest unless the company reverses its plans to attack the pension scheme and erode the rights of agency workers by exploiting legal loopholes. Unite believes exploiting these loopholes to worsen the rights of agency workers is immoral."
The new UK Agency Work Regulations come into force in October 2011. Agency workers would have been able to look forward to equal pay with regular employees after 12 weeks.
An agency worker comments on the Unite blog: "Having worked for an agency on the same job for a number of years I am now being forced to sign the Swedish contract with the agency that will result in me earning just short of 4 Pounds an hour less than their own staff."
Unite is planning to meet all shop stewards at BMW early in the new year to organise a campaign of resistance up to and including a ballot for industrial action if necessary.