Manufacturers call for action over regulation
MANUFACTURERS will today set out a “shopping list” of important ways that the government can avoid stifling the industry with red tape.
The coalition must stand up against regulations emanating from Brussels, while modifying its own plans for fresh regulations, the manufacturers group EEF is expected to say.
The new Agency Workers Directive will increase the cost of employing agency workers by around 20 per cent to one third, the EEF has calculated.
“Having just seen the Agency Workers Directive impose a significant increase on costs, industry will be alarmed at a range of other potential measures in the pipeline from Europe and from our own government,” said the EEF’s Steve Radley.
“This is precisely the time we need to be encouraging job creation as part of the growth agenda and adding yet more costs is only going to make this more difficult.”
The EEF’s call coincides with the next stage of the government’s Red Tape Challenge, which asks firms to nominate which pieces of regulation could be scrapped or amended.
Yet the group are concerned by new pan-European regulations, such as additional rules relating to working time and pregnant workers.