UNIONS and recruiters have urged the government to abandon its renewed bid to lift a ban on agency workers to fill in for striking staff.

The TUC and Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) warned today that the “ill-judged” proposal could prolong disputes.

Ministers are resurrecting the plans despite suffering a High Court defeat in June, which saw the presiding judge criticise them for acting in a way that was “unfair, unlawful and irrational” as they rushed through the new laws.

The joint statement from the agency sector body and union federation said: “We both believe that using agency staff to cover strikes only prolongs and inflames the conflict between employers and their permanent staff.

“It also risks placing agency staff and recruitment businesses in the centre of often complicated and contentious disputes over which they have no control.”

They highlighted the failure of government to provide robust evidence that the changes will benefit employers, saying: “The proposal is simply impractical.

“There are currently significant numbers of vacancies for temporary agency workers.

“This suggests that many can pick and choose the jobs they take and are unlikely to opt for roles that require them to undermine industrial action.”

It warned many roles on strike would require technical skills or training and are impractical to fill with agency workers at very short notice.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) also criticised the move in its consultation response, accusing the government of failing to provide “sufficient evidence” to justify restricting people’s rights to freedom of peaceful assembly.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “The humiliating High Court defeat should have been the final nail in the coffin for these unworkable, shoddy plans to overturn the long-standing ban on agency workers filling in for striking workers.

“Now they are trying to resurrect the proposal despite strong opposition from unions and employers.

“It’s spiteful, cynical – and it won’t work.”

REC chief Neil Carberry said: “Agencies across the country have been clear that they do not want the law changed again. 

“The ban on direct replacement of striking workers reflects global good practice and protects temps and agencies from being drawn into disputes that are nothing to do with them.

“Removal of the ban does nothing to resolve those disputes either.”

A government spokesperson said it believed “there is a strong case for this change to help employers to manage any disruption.”