The TUC has warned the government against watering down the implementation of a European directive on the equal treatment of temporary workers when it introduces it into UK law.

The TUC's concern over the government's plans for the EU Fixed Term Contracts Directive, due to be implemented by next July, came as it released details of a survey showing that temporary workers tend to get worse terms and conditions than permanent employees.

The TUC is seeking to step up its pressure on the government to include equal rights to pay and pensions for temporary workers when it introduces the directive.

The EU proposal aims to improve the quality of fixed term work by ending discrimination and preventing abuse arising from the use of successive fixed term contracts.

The government, which is now considering the responses of a public consultation on the directive, estimates that including pay and pensions in the implementation of the directive could cost between £51 and £124 million on top of the £19-40 million cost of ending discrimination in non-pay benefits.

In its "Permanent Rights for Temporary Workers" survey of nearly 200 unionised workplaces, the TUC found that 47 per cent of temporary workers are paid less than those with permanent positions. It found that 70 per cent of companies do not offer the same access to occupational pension schemes, 25 per cent do not give access to contractual sick leave and 14 per cent do not give holiday pay to temporary workers.

The TUC argues that the UK workforce is dividing between those in high-skill jobs who are able to "play the field" and "a growing band of those at the lower end of the labour market who are often paid less, get worse terms and conditions and are worried about their job security".

Among the UK workforce the TUC says there are 1.7 million people on temporary contracts, "casuals" or agency workers - representing seven per cent of the total workforce. A growing proportion of temporary workers work for agencies - 16 per cent now compared with seven per cent eight years ago, according to the TUC.

However, the public sector uses proportionately more temporary workers than the private sector and accounts for just under half of the total, according to government figures based on the Labour Force Survey. The public sector also accounts for over 70 per cent of fixed term workers who have been in their jobs for over two years.

Amongst the 82 per cent of workplaces surveyed that had increased the number of people employed on temporary contracts over the last 10 years the TUC found the main reasons were changing demand, cost-cutting and deliberate management decisions to increase the ratio of temporary staff.

TUC General Secretary John Monks said better conditions for temporary workers would help businesses motivate their workforces.

"Some high skilled workers positively choose to do temporary work, welcoming the autonomy and flexibility provided by well paid short-term challenges. However, lower skilled workers increasingly find themselves trapped in temporary work that is comparatively low paid and leaves them without work-related benefits or job security," he said.

"To get commitment from workers, they must feel they have some commitment from their employers. Constant worries about being laid off, lack of sick pay and access to pensions means a UK workforce that is treated mean and anything but keen. That can only be bad for business."

The government's consultation period on the proposals on fixed term work ended last May, after receiving more than 200 responses.

The EU directive on fixed term work was due to be implemented by July 10 2001, but it gives member states that identify "special difficulties" an extra year to implement it. The government says the public consultation on the directive revealed "particular problems with implementation in the UK".

Among the costs identified by the government as arising from the directive, improved access to training would cost £33-76 million but could have benefits to business of £26-180 million per year from increased productivity, while removing the redundancy waiver for fixed term contracts would benefit 52,000 to 117,000 employees at a cost of £28-70 million.

Increased access to training for fixed term employees could cost £33-76 million while the one-off administration costs for business would be around £2 million.

Under the regulations a worker on a fixed term contract would be able to compare their conditions to those of a permanent employee doing similar work for the same employer at the same establishment or, where there is no such employee at the same establishment, at another establishment for the same employer.