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Trade unions hail EU agreement giving equal treatment to temps
Trade unions hailed a European Union (EU) agreement on Tuesday to give temporary workers the same rights as permanent employees from day one but urged EU lawmakers to better protect the maximum 48-hour work week.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:03 June 11, 2008
Luxembourg: Trade unions hailed a European Union (EU) agreement on Tuesday to give temporary workers the same rights as permanent employees from day one but urged EU lawmakers to better protect the maximum 48-hour work week.
Employment ministers from the 27-nation bloc agreed after a marathon negotiating session that citizens should work no more than 48 hours a week, unless they want to, but cemented Britain's right to opt out of those working time rules.
The deal will help end a four-year dispute between British and French led camps on EU labour market rules which pitched London's liberal economic views against calls for minimum social standards from Paris.
'A major step'
"This is a major step forward for European workers and it strengthens social dialogue," EU Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla said.
"We have created more security and better conditions for workers and temporary agency workers while maintaining the flexibility that industry needs and workers want when reconciling family life and working life," he said.
Catelene Passchier, a senior official at the European Trade Union Confederation, described as a positive development the agreement to give temporary workers equal treatment in terms of pay, holiday and maternity leave from day one.
But Passchier criticised the compromise on working time rules, saying: "Concerning working time, we are much less positive ... We hope that the European Parliament will correct that."
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