Council Directive 99/70/EC concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by the ETUC, UNICE and CEEP
The European Directive on fixed term work was agreed in 1999 and was due to be implemented by the UK by 10 July 2001. The Government has consulted on draft regulations. The closing date for the consultation was 31 May. The DTI website somewhat coyly says "the UK will be taking extra time to implement it [the Directive] and the fixed term regulations will not be coming into force on 10 July this year. The directive gives member states that have 'special difficulties' up to an extra year to implement." It is not clear what "special difficulties" the DTI think there are!
The draft regulations were disappointing in many ways. Thompsons along with many trade unions and the TUC responded to the government's consultation document. Our main areas of concern are that the regulations as drafted would only apply to "employees" narrowly defined rather than the wider definition of "worker" used in most European employment legislation. Also the current regulations would exclude equal pay and pensions. This would dilute the original purpose of the Directive and leave many fixed term workers without legal remedies.
The delay in implementation could be positive if the government uses the Employment Bill as an opportunity to bring forward enabling legislation to ensure that the regulations can apply to pay and pensions in the same way as the government took enabling powers in the Employment Relations Act 1999 to extend the remit of the Part Time Work Regulations to pay and pensions.
In a recent survey the TUC have found that temporary workers are more likely to be : women (54%); part time workers (47%); under 30 (44%); and from ethnic minorities (11%). Full details are available at www.tuc.org.uk.
Lucy Anderson from the TUC said "It is important that this issue is included in the forthcoming Employment Bill. The TUC is still campaigning to get permanent rights for temporary workers".