The S&D Group in the European Parliament welcomed the opinion of the Advocate-General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) dedicated to temporary agency EU law.

S&D Group spokeswoman on social affairs Jutta Steinruck said:

"These conclusions are good news. If the Court of Justice follows this opinion from the Advocate-General, which is often the case, we could have the first crucial interpretation of the directive on temporary agency work in favour of European-wide workers' rights.

"The ruling would be a first step towards abolishing the exploitation of temporary agency workers. Permanent jobs should never be replaced by temporary agency work."

The case taken to the Court by the Finnish Transport Union concerns whether the European Directive on temporary agency work is in accordance with existing Finnish collective agreements. This prevents substantial periods of work done by salaried workers from being handed over to employment agencies.

According to the Advocate-General this Finnish agreement is in line with the European Directive and agencies must therefore only be used to meet temporary demand.

Note to the editor:

The EU directive on Temporary Agency Work entered into force in 2008 and sets minimum standards for the protection of temporary agency workers. The European Commission presented on Thursday, 20 November 2014 an implementation report to the committee on employment and social affairs in the European Parliament. They particularly stressed the point that the article on the limitation and prohibition of agency work poses problems in the implementation process. Therefore, this court ruling could set a precedent.