Changes to working time rules satisfy no-one

Commenting on the EU Commission’s proposals announced Wednesday for the revision of the EU Working Time Directive, which include the continuation of the opt-out for UK workers from the 48 hour working week, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber, said:

This is a disappointing decision that will satisfy no-one.

People at work will get some slight extra protections against bosses who try to force them to opt-out of a 48 hour working week. And union members will be able to negotiate a limit to their maximum hours.

But these limited reforms show that the Commission has failed to grasp the scale of the UK’s long hours culture and the damage it is doing to our workforce and economy. British bosses will still be able to rely on pressuring staff to work long hours instead of adopting safe, efficient and productive working practices.

Working time fact file

3.75 million UK employees regularly working over 48 hours a week. The numbers of these have fallen by only 7% since 1998 and at that rate it would take 45 years to reach the EU average when we could expect the UK to have around 1.25 million long hours workers (mostly managers and professionals exempt from the working week limits). Only one in three people with jobs know that the law protects them against working more than 48 hours a week Nearly two out of three people who say they work regularly more than 48 hours a week say they have not been asked to opt out of the working time regulations.

One in four who have signed an opt-out say they were given no choice about signing away their rights. The Government statistics show that 7 out of 10 long hours workers want to work fewer hours.