Britain keeps working week opt-out

Britain is understood to have defended its opt-out from the European working time directive.

EU employment, social policy, health and consumer affairs ministers began two days of talks in Brussels on Thursday with the agenda expected including discussions on the possible adoption of a maximum 48-hour working week.

The UK has been fighting hard to keep its exemption to the rules, with firms able to ask staff to withdraw from the scheme. The European parliament recently voted to scrap the British opt-out, with some Labour MEPs rebelling against Tony Blair. The government was also facing increasing pressure from the European Commission, which is understood to have wanted a compromise guaranteeing the exemption only until 2012. Opponents of the opt-out argue that it makes Europe's labour market lop-sided and fails to offer workers protection. However the government was determined to retain the current business-friendly position, with Tony Blair reported to have put together a coalition of supporters backing his stance. After a pre-meeting of top-level officials, the UK claimed to have kept the backing of allies determined to defend its exclusion. "There was no major shift in positions or in the blocking minority," one diplomat said.

Debate

The issue goes to the heart of the debate raging over the future of European economic reform following France's No vote in Sunday's EU constitution referendum. France is resistant to deep-seated reforms which would break up its traditionally strong social security system. But Britain is at the forefront of a range of members, including many of the new central and east European accession states, which want to press ahead with further liberalisation. The prime minister was also under pressure from lobby groups at home. The Institute of Directors joined forces with its Polish counterpart on Thursday to argue that the opt-out is essential, with 43 per cent of British businesses making use of the provision. "For both our countries it is essential we maintain a flexible labour market to allow us to compete with emerging economies," director general Miles Templeman said. "We simply cannot afford to relax our competitive advantage in any way if we wish to continue to enjoy our current standard of living.

Development

However the TUC published its own poll showing that the exemption is self-defeating as it stops staff from taking up further training. It found that nearly one in three workers said that long hours or stress have prevented them from developing their careers in the last three years, as the government wants. More than eight million employees - 29 per cent - and 35 per cent of full-time staff said that their "current job has such long hours or so stressful a workload that I do not have the time or energy to take up a course". "Employer lobbyists claim that long hours working is essential to business success, but most experts agree that one of the biggest brakes on UK productivity is the poor skills of too many of the workforce," general secretary Brendan Barber said. "But this poll shows that long hours working is one of the main obstacles to improving skills. "We run the risk of getting caught in a vicious circle of long hours working, low skills and low productivity. Long hours is not a sign of economic success but badly organised workplaces with tired inefficient staff. "If Europe's ministers agree to phase out the opt-out on the 48 hour working week at their meeting which starts today, they will be giving British productivity a boost."

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