MEPs to debate Working Time ahead of key Wednesday vote.

5.27.00pm GMT Mon 15th Dec 2008

Members of the European Parliament will this evening hold a key debate on the Working Time Directive, ahead of the crucial vote on Wednesday that could decide whether the UK can continue to opt- out from 48-hour week legislation.

Liz Lynne, the lead UK MEP on the directive, as the shadow rapporteur for the Liberal and Democrats group in Parliament, is leading calls for the retention of the opt-out, which is under threat from the Socialist grouping of MEPs, which includes the UK's Labour party.

Speaking in the debate Liz will say:

"The deal reached by the Council on the Working Time Directive is not ideal, but I am well aware that it has taken many years of negotiations by the Member States to get this far. Most of us involved with the directive in the European Parliament have also been working on this for a number of years as well.

"I have always supported the retention of the opt-out but I wanted it tightened up so that it would be truly voluntary. I am pleased that now, with the Council Common Position, the opt- out cannot be signed by a worker at the same time as the contract and that you can opt-out of the opt-out at any time.

"This is a far more transparent way of protecting workers rights than by using a definition of autonomous worker that is so loose it could apply to anyone, as it does in some Member States, or the use of multiple contracts whereby an employer can employ the same employee on one, two or even three separate contracts, which is used in some other Member States.

"If there is an abuse of the opt-out by the employer then the worker can take them to an employment tribunal. I also fear that if we lose the opt-out it will force more people into the grey economy and that they will not be covered by health and safety legislation, in particular the dangerous machinery directive. All legal workers are covered by this directive whether they opt-in or opt-out at the moment.

"In these difficult economic times it is also very important that workers are able to earn overtime if they want to and that employers also have flexibility.

"With regards to on-call time not being considered working time in the common position I have more difficulty with this. That is why I tabled an amendment in the Employment Committee to say all on-call time should be working time.

"Unfortunately I didn't get the support from the Socialist or EPP groups. What we now have in the Rapporteur's text is that on-call time should not be classed as working time but allowing collective agreements or national law to rule otherwise. This is not a major change from what is already in the Council Common Position, just a slight difference of emphasis. I didn't re-table my amendment because I knew the EPP and Socialists would not vote for it.

"I suspect we might have to go to conciliation on this directive, but I also suspect that Council will not move. If there is no agreement then I hope that the Council will think again and that the health sector will be dealt with separately which I have long called for.

"To my mind the revision of this directive was only really necessary to deal with the Simap and Jaeger judgements by the European Courts and this is all that it should have looked at."

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Liz Lynne MEP is the only UK MEP representing the European Parliament in negotiations with the Council on the Working Time Directive.