Adopted at the ETUC 10th Statutory Congress, 26-29/05/2003
Delegates at the 10th ETUC Congress, meeting in Prague from May 26-29, expresses their strong discontentment and incomprehension at the risk of a stalemate in the adoption of the proposed directive on temporary agency work, and at the risk of its major distortion by a certain number of Member States : The United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and Germany.
This directive is important to assume a regulation of this form of work guaranteeing equal treatment in employment conditions for these workers. The establishment of these minimum standards, essential in particular for the perspective of enlargement, will complete the framework agreements already inserted into the Community's legal framework, namely on part-time work and fixed-term contracts. This will constitute a solid basis for future legislative initiatives guaranteeing decent employment conditions for workers in an evolving labour market.
The 10th Congress of the ETUC supports the search for a compromise by the Greek Presidency on the basis of proposals formulated by the European Parliament and calls immediately for Member States to adopt this proposal of directive at the next Social Affairs Council on June 2 - 3, 2003.