Euro-MPs back tighter work hours

Report of vote in the European Parliament, Strasbourg, 11 May 2005 on the proposed Directive to amend the existing Working Time Directive. MEPs want the right of individual workers to opt out of the maximum 48 hour working week to be scrapped three years after the new working hours directive enters into force (Amendment 20 adopted with 378 votes in favour, 262 against with 15 abstentions). They also want hours 'on-call' to count as working time in most cases. Parliament took these decisions when it adopted a legislative report by Alejandro Cercas (PES, ES) by 345 votes to 264 against, with 43 abstentions.

• Primary Source

United Kingdom: Department of Trade and Industry: Employment relations: The Working Time Regulations http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/work_time_regs/index.htm

European Commission: Secretariat General: PreLex: Follow the subsequent progress of this legislative proposal in the EU policy process through this link http://ec.europa.eu/prelex/detail_dossier.cfm?CL=en&ReqId=0&DocType=COM&DocYear=2004&DocNum=0607

Federation of Small Businesses (UK): Press Release, 10.5.05: Commonsense view on the 48 hour week has been lost in translation http://www.fsb.org.uk/news.asp?REC=2427

The Work Foundation: Press Release, 11.4.05: The UK - The Work horse of the European Union? http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+UK+-+The+Work+Horse+of+the+European+Union%3F-a0131343638

The Work Foundation: Report: Still At Work? An Empirical Test of Competing Theories of the Long Hours Culture, April 2005 http://www.theworkfoundation.com/research/publications/publicationdetail.aspx?oItemId=51

The Work Foundation: Press Release, 11.5.05: European Parliament Working Time Vote a 'Big Step in the Right Direction' http://www.theworkfoundation.com/newsroom/pressreleases.jsp?ref=169

BBC News, 11.5.05: Q&A: Working Time opt-out http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4536891.stm

UEAPME: Press Release, 11.5.05: Parliament's changes to working time rules threaten business and jobs http://www.ueapme.com/docs/press_releases/pr_2005/050511_WTD.pdf

European Trade Union Confederation: Press Release, 11.5.05: ETUC welcomes the decision of the European Parliament on the working time directive http://www.etuc.org/a/1260

Confederation of British Industry: Press Release, 11.5.05: Working Time vote - Further threat to a competitive Europe http://www.cbi.org.uk/ndbs/press.nsf/0363c1f07c6ca12a8025671c00381cc7/b02cd8e3cecb31a080256ffe0039de33?OpenDocument

Trades Union Congress (UK): Press Release, 11.5.05: Victory for common sense compromise on 48 hour working week http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-9847-f0.cfm

BBC News, 11.5.05: Working time directive vote: Your views http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4536799.stm

European Parliament: Daily Notebook, 11.5.05: Working hours opt-out to end: on-call time to count as working time http://europarl.europa.eu/omk/sipade2?PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+PRESS+DN-20050511-1+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&L=EN&LEVEL=2&NAV=X&LSTDOC=N

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