The EU’s social partners have agreed to negotiate rules

Date: 20/06/1996

to guarantee the employment rights of part-time workers. But the European employers' federation UNICE is still insisting that the rules should be limited to part-time workers, while the unions want the scope widened to include other 'atypical' workers. If they strike a deal, the social partners can ask ministers to turn it into law to apply everywhere except the UK, which has an opt-out from the social protocol.