Policy Focus

Working time directive struggles for EU agreement

Late night negotiations to find agreement on the working time directive have failed as MEPs and the council struggled to find agreement on proposals to blanket cap working hours in Europe.

The issues of the opt-out (which countries such as the UK are loathe to lose), the arrangements for on-call time, and how to deal with multiple contracts remain stumbling blocks in the final stage conciliation procedure between the two EU institutions.

It is now being suggested that, following the failure to reach an agreement on Wednesday 1 April, there will be a further meeting on the 20-21 April in an attempt to reach a deal before the six week limit for the negotiations.

Socialist rapporteur Mechtild Rothe said that she hoped a solution to the problems could be found saying, “The directive is too important not to continue trying to find a compromise until the very end of the procedure.”

Should these final talks fail then the proposals must be returned to the commission to be redrafted, reworked and the process begins again.

However, there are rumours that a third option may be available, which is for discussions to continue on the basis of an informal “trialogue” between the three institutions.

These discussions could then lead to agreement as to the need for another round of conciliation.

Much of the debate centres around the 48 hour opt out, often used in Britain, which allows workers to exceed the maximum working week if they wish.

British liberal MEP Liz Lynne explained that she is against the revoking of this privilege saying, “the opt out of the 48 hour limit in the working time directive should be retained so long as it is truly voluntary.”

Under the terms of the deal under discussion a worker's hours would be calculated over a six month period, with the average needing to stay under the 48 hour cap, which allows a certain degree of flexibility.