AGENCY staff at a Liverpool office block were given half an hour’s notice of the sack after working for years on a multi-million pound Government contract for the taxman.

Staff were in tears after suddenly being told to clear their desks and being escorted from the premises at the computer giant, Fujitsu.

Some had loyally worked as data processing staff for up to eight years – but they were ushered from the Fujitsu building in Farriers Way, Netherton without being entitled to a single penny in redundancy money.

Their plight was today highlighted by the North West TUC who have begun a campaign and launched a web site http://fairtoagencyworkers.org/ to demand fair treatment for agency staff throughout the region.

NW TUC Regional Secretary Alan Manning said: “Agency workers are being treated as second class citizens in the workplace.

“They often earn far less money for doing exactly the same work, have less rights and benefits and are usually the first to be sacked – without any entitlement to redundancy pay.”

The office staff had been working with the employment agency Kelly Services, on a £900 million contract with Fujitsu for Her Majesty’s Customs and Revenue.

Staff told how they had been “treated like cattle”, earning up to £8,000 a year less than permanent staff – for doing exactly the same jobs.

They also lost out on holidays, sickness pay and pension entitlement - and even got five minutes less break-time than permanent staff!

The agency workers earned the minimum wage of just £5.75 an hour from Fujitsu, which last week topped the league table of companies lavishing corporate hospitality on top Whitehall civil servants, including trips to the opera, Wimbledon and the Chelsea Flower Show.

One of the sacked Liverpool staff, 21-year-old Paula Kenny, from Walton, was just a few days short of celebrating her third year at the company, when the agency workers were called into the works canteen.

She said today: “They said they had to finish us up and then gave us just half an hour’s notice to clear our desks and say goodbye to the permanent staff. We were all in total shock.

“Then we were escorted from the building and had our passes taken off us. It felt as if we had done something wrong, rather than having worked loyally for them for years.

“I just couldn’t believe it - three years is a long time without getting a penny in redundancy.”

Another sacked colleague added: ”People have been there since 2001/2 , but all we got was an extra days pay to the end of the week.

“We couldn’t believe it – it was all so sudden. If they had finished up the permanent staff, they would have had to pay them redundancy and give them some notice. It was easier to get rid of us.

“We feel like second class citizens.”

The TUC say that although both sides of industry, the Government and Europe all now agree on fair treatment for agency workers, some employers continue to discriminate against them.

Mr Manning said: “The Prime Minister has promised legislation in this Parliament, but that is no consolation to those people who have lost their jobs on a major Government contract - with just a moment’s notice.”

Liverpool Walton MP Peter Kilfoyle today accused both Fujitsu and Kellys of “exploitation.”

He added: ”This is what happens when we fail to give our workers the same protection as workers in other parts of Europe.

“Employers couldn’t get away with this anywhere else on the Continent – hiring and firing people on a whim. It is exploitation – there is no other word for it. “

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