Press Release No. 20/2010 IG Metall Calls for Implementation of the EU Temporary Agency Work Directive

Berlin – IG Metall has called on the federal government to protect temporary agency workers from exploitation. “The federal government must not simply shift the responsibility onto the social partners, but must finally take action itself. We need a legal framework that limits the duration of temporary assignments and ensures fair working conditions and fair pay,” said IG Metall’s Second Chairman, Detlef Wetzel, on Thursday at a conference in Berlin with works council members and representatives from politics and academia. The draft revision of the Temporary Employment Act (AÜG) presented by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is neither sufficient nor in compliance with EU directives. “Permanent employees can still be replaced by cheaper temporary workers in the future. Temporary work remains a tool for wage dumping.” While the federal government is thus serving the interests of the temporary work lobby, it is violating the principle of “equal pay for equal work,” Wetzel criticized.

The EU Temporary Agency Work Directive, on the other hand, provides for significantly improved protection and must be transposed into national law swiftly and, above all, in full, Wetzel demanded. The directive stipulates that temporary agency workers may only be deployed “temporarily” and that their deployment in permanent positions is not permitted. “Accordingly, the legislature must amend the Temporary Employment Act accordingly. The legal situation must not be deliberately left vague at the expense of those affected,” Wetzel said. In this context, Wetzel referred to existing expert opinions on the EU directive. According to a recently submitted expert opinion by Professor Preis of the University of Cologne, temporary agency work lasting several years is no longer considered “temporary” within the meaning of this directive. “There is no way around reintroducing a maximum assignment period,” said Wetzel. The necessary reform of the TWA should also serve as an opportunity to correct past mistakes. “The expansion of precarious employment cannot be the model for Germany’s future.”