The TUC has called on the government to “do all it can” to breathe life back” into a shelved EU directive, which it says would improve the pay and condition of temporary workers.

The call came following a study of 85 workplaces, employing 100,000 staff and 15,000 temps, which found that nine out of 10 temps were worse off than permanent staff.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Clearly temporary jobs are always going to be preferable for some people who have family or other commitments, but there’s no reason why the thousands of individuals who opt for agency work should be getting such a raw deal.

“There is a simple solution. If it became law the EU Directive would instantly make life fairer for temps by giving them the same basic rights as their permanent colleagues,” he said.

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