New plans will see agency and temporary workers receive the same rights as permanent staff once they have been employed for 12 weeks.

Under the agreement, reached between the CBI and unions, temporary and agency workers will qualify for the same pro-rata pay and conditions as full-time workers after 12 weeks but not other in-work benefits, like sick pay and pensions. They will have to work the same length of time as permanent workers to get maternity leave.

There will be anti-avoidance measures to stop employers changing job descriptions before the end of the 12-week period. If the deal is accepted by the EU, it could lead to trade-off rules on the maximum working week, with the UK conceding equal treatment for agency workers in return for keeping its opt-out from the re-negotiated Working Time Directive, now under discussion in Brussels.

By Tamara Holmes

May 8, 2008 -- A Federal Reserve report released this week underscores the increasing difficulty that small business owners are facing in securing loans during the current economic climate. It is a reality that has both African American entrepreneurs and legislators looking for solutions.

Back in the late seventies and early eighties, I got my first close look at small business in action. I was consulting and developing software for mini-computers, which led me into the business world I had previously viewed only from the outside.

Business in the new millennium means fierce competition, aggressive marketing and strategic alliances. The extent to which a business succeeds or fails often depends upon that business's ability to be awarded contracts or to attract other businesses into Joint Ventures or strategic alliances. To accomplish either one usually requires two key items: good ideas and the ability to present those good ideas in a superbly developed business proposal.