Region Praises NW MPs Votes For The Agency Bill

Carl Webb, NW Regional Secretary has welcomed the success of the agency campaign so far, with the passage of the Temporary and Agency Workers (Equal Treatment) Private Members Bill to committee stage.

The majority of CWU branches in the NW campaigned tirelessly to ensure that over a 100 MPs voted for Andrew Miller’s Bill.

Carl said, "All the hard work paid off and we would like to pay tribute to all the NW Labour MPs who voted for the Bill. Hopefully, the days of agency workers being blatantly exploited could be coming to an end. The CBI who continue to campaign against the Bill should hang their head in shame."

This is also a proud day for all those Agency workers supporting the Union's campaign for their right to equal and fair treatment.

CWU Liverpool Clerical Branch's own Jackie Smith and John J Williams also featured in a BBC North West News Tonight item on the Agency Workers Bill.

The campaign of pressure needs to continue to ensure the bill finally becomes law.

Billy Hayes, general secretary, said: “This is a real minimum wage moment. The working lives and welfare of 1.4 million agency workers and their families are one step closer to the fair and equal treatment they deserve and need. It is unacceptable in our successful economy to discriminate against workers in the same employment on grounds of whether they are permanent or temporary or agency employees."

He continued: "This division of the workforce provides unwelcome opportunities for discrimination and leaves these vulnerable employees unable to access financial services which their permanent colleagues enjoy. Andrew Miller’s bill provides legal recognition of this and will guarantee fairness and justice for all workers in all sectors.
“When we get this bill through, we won’t find any MPs who’ll admit to having been opposed to it. It is a quintessential piece of Labour legislation which we look forward to implementing and enforcing for the good health of British employment."

The BBC News website covered the news of the success in parliament, and includes a link to find out if your local MP voted in favour or otherwise. See here

MPS WHO VOTED AGAINST THE BILL

James Brokenshire (Con)
Mr. Christopher Chope (Con)
Philip Davies (Con)
Mr. Nigel Evans (Con)
Mr. Mark Francois (Con)
Charles Hendry (Con)
Mr. Philip Hollobone (Con)
Miss Julie Kirkbride (Con)
Mrs. Jacqui Lait (Con)
Richard Ottaway (Con)
Mr. Andrew Robathan (Con)

Tellers for the Noes:
James Duddridge (Con)
and Jeremy Wright (Con)

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