FEARS have been raised over the impact a £4.2 million council savings plan will have on pay and conditions for temporary staff.
The city council expects to make savings of £1.4m a year with the recruitment of a single agency supplying all of their temporary staff.
Temping agency Blue Arrow Limited won the contract in a move approved by the council's finance and resources c
ommittee.
The contract is expected to reduce council agency fees by £1.4m a year and £4.2m over the lifetime of the contract.
The temporary agency staff project was set up by the council in July 2007. Its aim was to find financial savings through the more effective use of agency staff, but fears have been raised over the impact the savings could have.
Ewan Aitken, outgoing council opposition leader, said: "It is our experience that council agency workers are given fewer rights such as sick pay and pension rights and are paid at a lower rate.
"This can't just be a debate about cost cutting without including the rights and experience of the people employed, and the service they will be giving to some of the most vulnerable people in the city. I am not convinced that this has been taken into account."
North Edinburgh MP Mark Lazarowicz said: "You don't save £4.2m by merely moving a few managers around, and it's hard to see how such sums could be achieved without some negative impact on staff.
"It may open the door to a new aggressive policy of outsourcing. I think a lot of questions need to be asked about this."
Mr Lazarowicz also expressed concern over the decision to award Blue Arrow the contract.
The company was recently censured by an employment tribunal in Cardiff, which found that it had unfairly discriminated against a transsexual truck driver when he started dressing as a woman.
The company was also the subject of nationwide protests in 2005 after it was brought in to replace sacked British Airways catering staff at Gate Gourmet.
Laura VanZyl, account director at Blue Arrow said: "All Blue Arrow employees are given fair and equal treatment. They are offered the full range of statutory benefits, including holiday pay and sick pay, together with further enhanced benefit options such as pension, personal accident insurance and travel and subsistence allowances."
Councillor Gordon Mackenzie, finance and resources convener, said: "This new contract is expected to deliver significant savings for Edinburgh.
"Using temporary staff is necessary in terms of covering short-term absences and fixed term projects. A more strategic approach to buying agency staff has delivered vital savings and efficiencies to this budget."
The full article contains 453 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
