by Chris McLaughlin

THE groundbreaking fair deal for up to 1.4 million temporary and agency workers announced by the Government this week has been hailed by trade unions as a major advance in the fight against exploitation.

At the end of a six-year battle by unions to give the largely migrant workforce equal rights with full-timers, the Government broke the logjam over the starting date for entitlement with a compromise on 12 weeks.

The unions had wanted rights to be applicable from day one and the employers represented by the CBI wanted a year.

Downing Street brokered a deal with the TUC at the end of last week and persuaded a reluctant TUC to enter the agreement before announcing the deal this week.

It is a breakthrough for the unions on a totemic issue which goes to the heart of the labour movement’s purpose in campaigning for a fairer society and was hailed by the Government as “the right balance between fairness and flexibility”.

Gordon Brown had been closely involved in the deal-making and the promise of early legislation will take the place of his earlier proposal for an independent commission which was stalled because of union opposition.

A bill currently in committee stage in the House of Commons is also likely to be withdrawn in favour of Government legislation.

Unison leader Dave Prentis, who led the negotiations as president of the TUC, said: “This is a great step forward to protect the majority of vulnerable agency workers and a significant leap towards the trade union position. This was unfinished business from the Warwick Agreement.

“Agency workers are becoming an increasing feature of the public sector and we want to make sure that they are treated fairly.”

Mr Prentis said the fight would continue for workers not covered by the deal, such as many in the building sector, and for adequate penalties to be imposed on employers who abuse the new laws.”

Michael Leahy, general secretary of Community, said: “This is a victory for working people and the country as a whole. The Government’s decision to tackle this key issue shows – although they have taken longer than they

should have – shows the clear difference between what it means to have a Labour Government compared to a Tory one.”

While the unions generally hailed the deal, construction union UCATT warned that it would not solve most of the problems of exploited workers in that sector.

General secretary Alan Ritchie said: “This will make a huge difference to hundreds of thousands of agency workers who have faced grossly unfair discrimination at work. But it does not help about 500,000 workers in construction who are deemed self-employed and have no employment rights.

“Nor will the new legislation assist the thousands of workers employed by gangmasters.”