New law on equal pay for temps is riddled with loopholes

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigation ... temps.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Next week should see a massive boost for more than a million of Britain's lowest paid workers - but will it be a massive let-down?

Under the Agency Workers Regulations, which come into force this Saturday, agency staff who do the same job for 12 weeks are entitled to the same pay and treatment as the employees they work alongside.

It's desperately needed by Britain's army of agency workers who earn, on average, nearly a third less, get a week's less holiday and have no job security.

It should also be good news for those who are worried about being undercut and replaced by a cheaper casual.

David Cameron made a late legal bid to water down the regulations but failed.

We've found so many loopholes that can be exploited by rogue bosses that we wonder why he bothered ...

Loophole 1 - Sack them before the 12-week deadline

The biggest worry is that hundreds of thousands of agency workers could lose their jobs just before Christmas.

That's because in the UK the right to equal treatment only kicks in at 12 weeks and the clock starts running this Saturday.

One recent study by law firm Allen & Overy found that one in three ­companies plans to dump its agency workers before then.

The study predicts that up to half a million people could be out of work for at least six weeks. That's the break needed before the 12-week clock is reset and they can start work again.

But how can firms possibly keep track of who has worked where and for how long?

Tools like the nauseatingly named "eZworkforce" software system are designed to help bosses "manage and forecast" the new Agency Workers Regulations.

David Baldwin, the boss of Working Pulse, the company behind eZworkforce, told us: "It can handle pretty much every configuration - 11-week contracts, short contracts. Business is starting to pick up. We're getting calls daily."

Loophole 2 - Stick them on the magic roundabout

Each time a worker is given a new role within the same company, the 12-week clock starts ticking all over again.

The guidance from the Department for Business states: "There has to be a genuine and real difference to the role."

But it will still be down to the individual worker to stand up for their rights and expose a sham - braving an employment tribunal if necessary.

Loophole 3 - Cut pay for employees

There's nothing to stop bosses from bringing in new lower pay rates ahead of the Agency Workers Regulations. Many are doing just that.

Oldham-based Park Cakes, which has 1,000 workers and supplies supermarkets, has torn up the wage agreement negotiated with its trade union and introduced an hourly rate for new staff that is between 8% and 50% below what it paid previously.

The new staff will be on "zero hour" contracts so they can have their hours cut without warning.

They will also get only the bare legal minimum for sick and holiday pay, unlike longer-serving colleagues.

Park Cakes claims the regulations would cost it £1.1million. Boss Anne Allen got a 14% pay rise last year while staff had their pay frozen.

Private equity firm Vision Capital owns Park Cakes through a subsidiary in Luxembourg to reduce the tax bill on any profits.

Park Cakes insisted the new contracts wouldn't affect existing staff - but that's not the point.

BFAWU general secretary Ronnie Draper said: "This shows how the AWRs are open to abuse and this is in a trade union company. It's a race to the bottom."

Loophole 4 - Give them a job ... just not the one they were expecting

Dozens of agency drivers for Marks and Spencer who earn 21% and 40% less than regular staff had hopes of equal pay shattered this month.

Their agency Pertemps issued new contracts making them permanent employees with no right to equal pay.

This is a perfectly legal loophole known as the "Swedish derogation" and more than one in three firms surveyed recently said it would only use agencies with this contract in place.

On the plus side - the drivers will finally get employment rights for the first time. This includes protection against unfair dismissal if the agency keeps them for longer than 12 months, and the right to basic redundancy pay after two years.

But some Pertemps workers, who have driven for M&S's distribution firm Gist for years, were looking forward to seeing their £8.25-an-hour basic pay, unchanged since 2006, go up to match the £10.08 paid to employees.

On Sundays, the difference is even more stark - Pertemps workers get £12 an hour while Gist employees are on double time.

Instead, they've been told to like it or lump it. Pertemps sent drivers new contracts to sign "in order to continue your assignment".

But one driver told us: "We were sent this contract on a Thursday and had to return it by the Monday if we wanted to keep our jobs.

"Some only got it through the post on the Monday morning. Most are too scared to do anything but sign it.

"There are lads with families who have been waiting for equal pay for years and they are devastated."

Under the new contract, drivers will get at least the minimum wage between jobs - but they are only entitled to four hours work a week, anywhere within "four hours travelling time" of their nearest Pertemps branch.

They will get "as much notice as ­reasonably practicable" of their hours and are told failure to turn up "might constitute gross misconduct".

Pertemps boss Tim Watts, worth an estimated £35m, boasted after a recent employment tribunal win: "I don't take prisoners."

Pertemps told us: "We consider the best interests of our ­flexible employees in these tough times, placing emphasis on being able to offer job security and continuity of work where possible."

The firm made £5.8m profits last year and directors shared £3m in wages.

Gist made £22m profits in 2009, while M&S announced £714m profits this year. Clearly, someone can afford to pay these drivers their dues.

Loophole 5 - Make them "self-employed"

Another group of workers facing a big backwards step are those who will find themselves ­"self-employed" - and not through choice.

That's because the new rules on equal treatment won't apply to anyone "in business on their own account", even if they get work through an agency.

In our Gizza Proper Job campaign we've come across a string of big firms, including Ryanair, Addison Lee and Parcelnet, that designate staff as self-employed to avoid giving them holiday pay, sick pay and, in some cases, even the minimum wage.

Earlier this year, while we were posing as building bosses, a rep for Britain's biggest payroll firm, Hudson Contract Services, offered to make our staff self-employed, telling us: "If you have trouble with one of them, you can just say, 'I'm sorry, don't come back tomorrow'."

Hudson boss David Jackson, who earned in excess of £2m last year, insists his firm's self-employment contracts are "lawful, proper and ethical".

"Our clients won't be affected by the Agency Workers Directive," Jackson recently boasted. "They are all exempt."

Which is a shame, especially given that Hudson says the average freelance builder has already suffered a 30% pay cut over the past four years.

Loophole 6 - Stop using agency workers

The Agency Workers Regulations only apply to agency workers, naturally.

More than one in three - 37% to be precise - of companies surveyed by Allen & Overy plans to set up its own in-house bank of temps to get around the rules.

The Daily Mirror revealed yesterday that the Royal Mail is setting up its own agency to fill thousands of temp jobs.

And it can pay them as much - or as little - as it likes.

Loophole 7 - Stop using employees

The nuclear option is to dump all employees and use only agency workers. Then you can pay everyone the minimum wage.

Back to David Baldwin of eZworkforce: "I think that will happen but I'm not prepared to comment on what our clients are doing."

Companies that break the rules risk a £5,000 fine per worker affected.

George Guy, Acting General Secretary of UCATT, said: "It is essential that if any loopholes are found in the regulations they are quickly closed. Agency workers deserve fairness."

But given this Government's been looking at scrapping the regulations, is it likely to ensure they work?

[fishtank]

There it is laid out.
A law designed to protect and enhance the working conditions of the poorest paid,most s**t-upon section of the employment spectrum will actually be used to justify another crushing attack on all our terms and conditions...and the trade unions and Labour party..the so-called protectors of the working classes wring their hands and do virtually nothing.
Just how rich do the rich want to be...and just how poor do the poor have to get before the whole thing becomes unsustainable?
Everything in this country is going backwards....
Most will end up in rented accommodation paying ridiculous rents to slum landlords because a slum landlord will be the only one able to afford to buy a house.
The NHS is being dismantled to the point where a Doctors appointment has a waiting list never mind a hospital appointment.
Education will soon be back to classes of 45 and Further Education the preserve of the rich.
Crime in inner cities is back to Victorian levels with large areas completely off-limits to the police and gangs that make Fagan's lot look like boy scouts.
When do the Workhouses and Ragged Schools open back up?
There must be money in that.

[POSTMAN]

The UK has been named the worst place to live in Europe for quality of life
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/se ... ife-europe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[fishtank]

Oldham-based Park Cakes, which has 1,000 workers and supplies supermarkets, has torn up the wage agreement negotiated with its trade union and introduced an hourly rate for new staff that is between 8% and 50% below what it paid previously.

This is not just any scumbag employer...
This is an M&S supplier scumbag employer...

http://righttowork.org.uk/2011/09/baker ... ark-cakes/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[happy11]

From the Same Union that agreed or should i say allowed Royal Mail to make up a company called Angard ! and pay less money less terms, well thank you cwu

[POSTMAN]

From the Same Union that agreed or should i say allowed Royal Mail to make up a company called Angard ! and pay less money less terms, well thank you cwu

To be honest i think they were caught on the hop.

[DirtyHarry]

I hate what this country is becoming.
I hate with a passion those people responsible for bringing about this disgraceful state of affairs.

We don't need riots, we need revolution.

[fishtank]

From the Same Union that agreed or should i say allowed Royal Mail to make up a company called Angard ! and pay less money less terms, well thank you cwu

To be honest i think they were caught on the hop.

Wed Jun 22...that's when the Angard thread popped up on here and we're just a bunch of dumb posties.
3 months is a hell of a long hop.

[POSTMAN]

From the Same Union that agreed or should i say allowed Royal Mail to make up a company called Angard ! and pay less money less terms, well thank you cwu

To be honest i think they were caught on the hop.

Wed Jun 22...that's when the Angard thread popped up on here and we're just a bunch of dumb posties.
3 months is a hell of a long hop.

Just checked my FB messages,I contacted them about it on the same day,i didn't get a reply though...

[BELIAL]

From the Same Union that agreed or should i say allowed Royal Mail to make up a company called Angard ! and pay less money less terms, well thank you cwu

To be honest i think they were caught on the hop.

Wed Jun 22...that's when the Angard thread popped up on here and we're just a bunch of dumb posties.
3 months is a hell of a long hop.

Just checked my FB messages,I contacted them about it on the same day,i didn't get a reply though...

What do you reckon then?
Are they just useless?
Or are they in on it?