A TUC submission to a government consultation on the legal status of workers and employees demanded full employment rights for all types of temporary worker yesterday.

Forum Response: GMB

John Edmonds, general secretary for the TUC, said: "We fully support the TUC campaign to gain rights for temporary workers. Temporary workers should not be treated as second class citizens and given less rights than full time workers."

Forum Response: Institute of Directors

A spokesman for the IoD, told ePolitix.com: "All the TUC proposals will achieve is an increase in unemployment as many employers will decide against hiring temporary staff. The more administrative burdens you place on employers seeking to hire short-term contract workers the fewer staff they will actually hire."

Forum Response: The Work Foundation

A spokeswoman for the The Work Foundation, said: "A balance must be found between providing adequate protection for agency workers and not damaging the industry or access to temporary work.

"A large number of workers are involved - 770,000 are believed to be working as temps on any one day in the UK. If they are to make a full contribution from both a personal and national productivity point of view, they need to be well paid, motivated, trained for the job and, crucially be able to keep their skills up to date. Whilst there are high standards in the industry, not all temporary workers have these opportunities."