Temporary workers to benefit from EU directive

Temporary workers may soon benefit from a new anti-discrimination directive.

The European Parliament is debating the rule, which will give better basic protection to temporary agency workers.

It means they will have the same rights as permanent employees doing the same job. Labour MEP, Pronsias de Rossa, says this type of protection is badly needed in Ireland.

“It is estimated that something like 90,000 people in Ireland work through agencies in the service industries, so some of them are in the high tech area, many in the nursing area and in various services.

"So there will be a number of people who will benefit from this directive providing we can get it through."