A Private Member’s Bill intended to protect agency workers would have unintended consequences for workers within the UK food industry the Association of Labour Providers has warned.

The Temporary and Agency Workers (Equal Treatment) Bill provides that an agency worker has the right not to be treated less favourably in respect of pay, working hours, paid holidays and sick pay, than a direct worker doing “broadly similar” work.

David Camp, director of the Association of Labour Providers foresees unintended consequences if the Bill becomes law.

“Within the food and agricultural sectors 90 per cent of the agency workers are migrants, predominantly from Poland and the other accession states, who come to the UK for the increased earning potential this country offers. This Bill would increase the cost of UK food production and reduce our price competitiveness in comparison to foreign growers and packers.”

The ALP warns that the Bill could further accelerate the trends for retailers to source fresh vegetables and meat from overseas and for suppliers to set up production and packing plants abroad. “This would be bad for the UK economy and bad for the migrant workers denied the opportunity to work in the UK,” said camp.

Alternatively, food producers would look at ways to control their labour costs to remain competitive. First by reducing pay, holidays and sick pay for permanent workers to enable the increase for agency workers so that overall the cost impact is neutral. And second, by outsourcing all unskilled basic work to agency workers, redefining grading systems and terms and conditions packages as required to circumvent the “broadly similar” and “comparable direct worker” elements of the Bill.

“In its current form the Bill would work contrary to its intentions and ensnare conscientious employers and agencies in red tape and legal mires,” said Camp.

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