EU split on drivers’ hours

Date: 10/06/1999

By Renée Cordes

HOPES of a swift deal on proposed EU-wide restrictions on transport workers' hours have been dashed, as governments lock horns over whether to include self-employed drivers within the scope of the new rules.

Diplomats say there is no hope of resolving the dispute at next Thursday's (17 June) meeting of transport ministers, leaving the outgoing EU presidency with an embarrassing void in what it billed from the start as a policy priority.

Failure to reach agreement means Bonn will be unable to put the finishing touches to its bid to bring certain 'excluded' sectors within the scope of the EU's Working Time Directive before its stint in charge of Union business ends this month.

Late last month, social affairs ministers reached agreement on other excluded sectors, but only after bitter arguments over the rules governing junior doctors' hours. They also left the sensitive issue of drivers' working time untouched.

Truckers' unions, who have lobbied hard for new rules to restrict their members' working hours, have expressed disappointment at the continuing deadlock. "We are very worried and disappointed that there is no progress," said Sabine Trier, a spokeswoman for the Federation of Transport Workers' Unions in the EU. "It is so obvious that self-employed drivers need to be included for safety reasons."

The unions also fear that Finland will put the issue on the back burner when it takes over the EU presidency in July, despite officials' insistence that it will try to get agreement on the issue.

Helsinki is opposed to including self-employed drivers, who account for about 80% of the country's freight market, within the scope of the rules and is unlikely to press for a deal as long as they are included in the proposal.

Transport workers were exempted from the European Commission's original proposal to limit average working hours across the EU in 1993 because employers and some governments insisted that extra flexibility was needed in the road haulage sector.

Last autumn, Acting Social Affairs Commissioner Pádraig Flynn proposed extending the existing rules to the transport sector after talks between industry and trade unions on a voluntary deal broke down.

But since then, member states have been unable to resolve their differences over the plan. While Nordic states favour limiting truckers' worktime, countries such as UK, Italy, Portugal, Greece and Ireland, are worried that restrictions would put their drivers at a competitive disadvantage.