AGENCY workers at the Jaguar Land Rover plant, in Halewood, claim they are being bullied into signing contracts that effectively see them waive the right to up to £200 extra pay a week.

Nottingham-based Staffline provides 686 staff for a DHL operation supplying parts for the Land Rover Evoque and Freelander 2 production line.

From October, agency workers will have the right to the same basic employment conditions – such as pay and holidays – as direct recruits after 12 weeks.

Staffline workers told the Daily Post the company is trying to get round the legislation – that could see them entitled to an extra £200 a week – by forcing them to sign permanent contracts.

These would be worth just an extra 15p an hour or around £6 a week for most workers.

Staffline said it has not considered putting workers – some of whom have worked at Halewood for five years – on parity of pay because its preferred option is to make them employees instead.

The firm claims new “Pay Between Assignments” (PBA) contracts are an improvement on workers’ current terms and comply with the new Agency Workers Regulations (AWR).

In a letter being sent to staff, the firm said the first 300 workers to sign PBA contracts will receive a minimum five days work per week.

But the next 300 to sign will only receive a minimum two days work per week. The letter also states that Staffline provided around 200 additional roles for the launch of the new Land Rover Evoque, but that these workers will no longer be required at the end of the year.