Happy Christmas for agency workers!
24th December 2011
Hundreds of thousands of UK agency workers, including 2,000 CWU Manpower members working for BT, are on the cusp of receiving the best possible Christmas present - namely employment equality with their directly employed counterparts.
For many - including the majority of the CWU's agency membership - that long-cherished dream becomes reality today (December 24), resulting in a post-Christmas pay hike of up to £2,000 per annum for many Manpower employees working on the BT contract.
Celebrating one of the most significant trade union victories of recent years - won in the tooth of bitter resistance from successive UK Governments and employer organisations - CWU general secretary Billy Hayes highlights the CWU's pivotal role in the long battle for agency justice which began with the launch of the CWU's 'Euro-Trashed' campaign in 2005.
"What we've achieved is the delivery of the best possible Christmas present for the majority of our agency members - won in the teeth of fierce resistance from vested interests who have demonstrated that the spirit of Scrooge is alive and well in the 21st Century," said Billy.
"Six years after the launch of the CWU's 'Euro-Trashed' campaign in 2006, hundreds of thousands of agency workers across the UK can now finally look forward to some basic employment fairness.
"Not so very much to ask for, you would have thought, yet it's been a fight that has pitched the trade union movement against successive UK Governments and commercial interests - some of which are even now trying to circumvent this welcome piece of European legislation.
"As such, the trade union movement's fight for equal treatment for agency workers is not yet complete. Given today's poignant 'Christmas Eve' step forward for the bulk of the CWU's agency membership, however, it's right to take stock of what we've already achieved - conscious of the fact that we still need to broaden the victory to cover all agency workers, " Billy concludes.
- The new right to equal pay for agency workers came into force on October 1 in England, Scotland and Wales (December 5 in Northern Ireland) with a qualifying requirement of 12 weeks service in a given role before equal pay kicks in. That's why the first agency workers in England, Scotland and Wales will begin qualifying for equal treatment today (December 24) - while in Northern Ireland the first possible qualifying date for equal pay is February 27.
