Unions in Ireland are resisting last ditch attempts to secure their agreement to a six month qualifying period for equal treatment for agency workers (ahead of the 5 December deadline for its introduction). Elsewhere, the EU directive has been applied from day one, apart from the UK where the TUC conceded a 13 week qualifying period in 2008 to the then Labour government:
http://www.icem.org/en/73-Contract-and-Agency-Labour/4773-SIPTU-Fights-Attempts-to-Dilute-EU-Agency-Workers-Directive
