German Left Party MP Sabine Zimmerman has called for the abolition of "systematic low-wage employment in the form of temporary work", according to BAP (Federal Employers Association of Personnel Service Providers).

Zimmerman, who cited statistics from the Federal Employment Agency, stated, "A springboard into a normal employment relationship is only for a few, for most temporary work means permanently low wages, poor working conditions and second-class employees.”

Thomas Hetz, Chief Executive of BAP, rejected Zimmerman’s claims as inappropriate and called on Zimmerman to stop defaming the temporary work industry as well as its employees.

Hetz stated, “Zimmermann has still not understood that the temporary employment industry has, over the past few years, repeatedly demonstrated its integration performance for people who have a hard time in the labour market.”

He added that “20% of temporary workers have never worked or been unemployed for more than a year before working in the industry.”

“I’d like to say again that temporary work is a service industry with normal wages, so that Zimmermann finally understands that temporary workers are not second class employees,” Hetz said. “The wage rates of temporary work are consistently above the general legal minimum wage.”