Victory for common sense compromise on 48 hour working week

Welcoming the vote in the European Parliament today to prevent UK employees being forced to work dangerously long hours, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

This is a victory for a common sense compromise on the 48 hour working week.

If implemented it would mean that employers would have to accept that staff could no longer work more than 48 hours a week on average, but unions would have to concede that the average would be calculated over 12 months, not the current 17 weeks. This would mean nearly two million UK workers who currently work more than 48 hours over a 17 week period would fall below the limit, and only the two million workers putting in extremely long hours all year round will be affected.

Working more than 48 hours week in, week out, year in, year out is undoubtedly bad for health and productivity. Tired workers are more likely to have accidents and to suffer illness.

Todayís employer rhetoric about choice fails to convince. UK employers have had nearly a decade to implement a system free of abuse that gave staff a genuinely free choice. But research shows that less than half the workforce even know they have a right not to work more than 48 hours a week, and that two out of three who work more than 48 hours a week have not been asked to sign an opt-out. Of course some employers rigorously follow the rules, but these figures show a large number cannot be trusted not to ignore or abuse the rules.