Manpower and Randstad, two of Europes biggest providers of temporary work solutions, are asking Europes Employment and Social Affairs Ministers to deregulate temporary work. The two companies are lobbying EU ministers to revise the Temporary Workers Directive draft (COM 2002/701) on the grounds of acknowledging agency workers as employees of the temporary work agency treated as such for at least 12 months, and restricting the use of temporary work only on health and safety issues.
On the eve of this weeks meeting of the Council of Ministers, Jamie Fortescue and Daniel Kasmir, directors of Randstad Holding and Manpower, warned that the proposed Temporary Workers Directive will destroy jobs and bring nothing in return.
The European Commission draft directive states that restrictions and prohibitions to temporary work may be justified only on grounds of the general interest regarding, in particular the protection of workers, the requirements of safety and health at work and the need to ensure that the labour market functions properly and abuses are prevented.
The draft directive will hinder, not help. The effect will be to create further disincentives to employment, affecting particularly first-time workers, and those returning to the labour market, such as young women, older workers of both sexes, workers from ethnic minorities, and workers with disabilities, said Daniel Kasmir.
The Lisbon Summit of 2000 rightly stressed the need to increase the level of employment across the EU , not least among the less skilled, the disabled, the long-term unemployed and women. This includes greater efforts to reduce the administrative burdens and to maximise the job creation potential of the service sector. The only way to achieve this is through a dynamic and flexible labour market, he added.
Jamie Fortescue highlighted that agency work could add 4.3 million jobs to European employment.
Filipe Samora
2003-03-06
Em Foco – Empresa