THE introduction of the new law protecting the rights of agency staff next October is long overdue.

The Agency Workers’ Directive has been approved by the Government and will see temporary workers get the same rights and conditions as permanent staff once they have been employed for 12 weeks.

The most high-profile local company affected will be BMW/Mini at Cowley, but there are workers across the county who will benefit.

It can surely only be right that there is some parity in workers’ rights. Standing side-by-side doing the same jobs, workers should not have differences in working conditions.

For too long agency workers in Britain have been the poor relations compared to other European countries.

Of course, you cannot fault companies too much for treating staff as they have. They are, after all, organisations designed to make a profit and if they law allows them to operate in a certain way then they almost certainly will. But the fault was ultimately with the law.

There is some concern that it may not be a complete panacea because at some employers agency workers actually find themselves on better terms than permanent staff.

And the more cynical companies may also use it as a basis to drive down the working conditions of permanent employees, meaning there will be parity in conditions but at a lower level than currently.

But overall it is a step forward that should have been taken years ago.