12/06/2008
European Union nations agreed Tuesday (10 June) to let workers opt out of a maximum 48-hour workweek and to give more rights to temporary workers across the 27-member bloc.

Efforts to revise EU working time rules had stalled since November 2006 over opt-outs from a 48-hour weekly maximum, especially in Britain, which is reluctant to tighten rules.

Under the revision of the directive on work time, Europeans could choose to work up to 60 or 65 hours a week after individual negotiations with their bosses.

EU working time rules also needed to be revised because an EU court had ruled that most member states are not respecting existing regulations, which it interpreted as requiring on-call time to be counted as working time. This put many health and emergency services workers over the 48-hour limit. Doctors in several EU states have filed lawsuits against hospitals for not complying with the rulings, which would entail large costs for hiring and training more staff.

Ministers overcame the problem by agreeing that while inactive on-call time could not be called rest, it could be considered work only if national laws or unions agree.

"We have succeeded in finding a key balance between the employment security" of workers and "labor market flexibility," said Marjeta Cotman, Slovenia's labor and social affairs minister, who was chairwoman of two days of talks in Luxembourg. The agreement was reached following all-night discussions.

Britain lifted its long-held opposition to giving the eight million temporary workers in the EU the same conditions as full-time employees - unless a collective agreement said otherwise. But it maintained its opt-out from a 1993 EU law that limited the workweek across the EU to 48 hours.

The EU legislature needs to approve the rules before they can take effect. Spain, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece and Hungary said they would seek changes because they did not fully support the compromise.

Poland, Estonia and other states also wanted to maintain an opt-out from the 48-hour workweek.

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has both praise and criticism for the bills. "The agreement on a directive on temporary agency workers was positive and shows that the European Union can legislate improvements for workers, contrary to what some business lobbyists have been arguing," noted ETUC chief John Monks.

"But the agreement on working time is highly unsatisfactory and unacceptable to the ETUC, in respect of the new provisions on on-call work and the continuation of the UK opt-out," he added.

"We will now be working with allies in the European Parliament to amend this agreement," Mr Monks said.

Parliament's consent is needed in order to proceed with the agreement reached by EU Ministers. If the vote scheduled for the end of this year fails, the deal will be sent back to the drawing board.

Source : AFP, Reuters, EUObserver.com