date: May 17 2004

embargo: 00:01 hours Wednesday May 19 2004

Attention: industrial, social affairs, Europe correspondents


Government evidence on long hours is 'riddled with errors'

The TUC has told the European Commission on the day they meet in Brussels to discuss the future of the working time directive that the UK Government’s case for maintaining the working time opt-out - that allows individual employees to sign away their right to work no more than 48 hours a week on average - 'has seriously misrepresented the situation' in the UK.

In a report and letter sent to the Commission today (Wednesday) the TUC analyses the UK Government submission and finds that it:

  • denies that long hours working has an effect on health and safety despite UK Government research that shows that there are ‘clear grounds for concern about the adverse effect of long hours working and the frequency of health and safety incidents.’

  • only refers to the incidence of accidents at work when the European Court of Justice has established in the case that the UK Conservative Government lost in 1996 that health and safety should include issues such as heart attacks, stress and occupational diseases.

  • argues that Ireland and Denmark have good records on job creation because they have flexible labour markets even though both Ireland and Denmark have implemented working time rules in full.

  • claims that the UK Government is already tackling the long hours culture even though the reduction in longs hours working has been so slow that it will take the UK another 40 years to reach the EU average.

  • claims there is high awareness and easy enforcement of working time rights, even though only one in three workers know about the 48 hour limit.

  • claims that two-thirds of long hours workers would face a pay cut if a 48 hour average week was introduced, yet the true figure is two-fifths and ignores the likelihood that employers will secure sufficient productivity gains to reduce working time with no loss of pay.

  • aims to weaken the employee voice by automatically making the period used to average working time a year, rather than the current 17 weeks, which can be extended to a year only though a union or workforce agreement at present.

  • TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said, 'The UK Government’s evidence is riddled with errors, inconsistencies and sloppy argument. If this is the best they can do, it shows the strength of the case for ending the opt-out. Our only worry is that the Commission may fail to understand that this is little more than a cut and paste job from employer lobbying.

  • 'Trade unionists will fail to understand why the Government is arguing to reduce employee rights when they are arguing that people at work should support them in the European elections.'

Notes to Editors:

The letter to the Commission is attached. The full report is available from the TUC media office or the TUC press intranet.

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Register for the TUC's press extranet: a service exclusive to journalists wanting to access

pre-embargo releases and reports from the TUC. Visit www.tuc.org.uk/pressextranet

- A series of TUC rights leaflets are available on our website and from the know your rights line 0870 600 4 882. Lines are open every day from 9am-9pm. Calls are charged at the national rate.

Contacts:

Media enquiries: Ben Hurley 020 7467 1248 or 07626 317903 (pager) or email bhurley@tuc.org.uk

Media enquiries: Liz Chinchen 020 7467 1248 or 07699 744115 (pager) or email media@tuc.org.uk

Text of letter to Mr Stavros Dimas, Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs.


Dear Mr Dimas

UK Government evidence to the review of the Working Time Directive 93/104/EC

I am concerned that our Government's evidence to the Commission has seriously misrepresented the situation here in the UK. A detailed critique of this evidence is enclosed.

The main points of concern are that the Government's submission seeks to play down the health and safety value of the 48-hour limit on weekly working time whilst greatly exaggerating the business need for long hours.

The TUC is also concerned that the Government has argued for a reduced role for trade unions in determining working time. Given that unions are the key agents for reducing the long hours culture in the UK, it would be very unhelpful if any of the derogations that are currently accessed by bargaining were to be made automatic.

Rather, we would argue that the directive should give unions a greater role in dealing with long hours through collective solutions. This analysis holds true regardless of the size of the employer, as small and medium enterprises would be particularly likely to gain from bargaining on working time issues, since they tend to suffer from a lack of strategic planning on personnel issues.

We share the ETUC's view that the Working Time Directive should have an important role to play in ensuring that a modern working time policy is developed at both national and European level. Such a policy must combine flexibility for employers with real choice for workers within safe limits.

The Working Time Directive should be considered as an important part of the 'social acquis' of the European Union and as an important step towards making 'Social Europe' a reality. Decent minimum standards on working time are a vital part of ensuring the protection of the health and safety of workers, yet the derogations in the directive have allowed the UK to continue to be out of line with the rest of the EU on this issue. Indeed, the incidence of long hours working in the UK is more than 3 times the EU average.

In particular, the so-called 'individual opt-outs' from the 48-hour week have undermined the Working Time Directive in the UK. The result has been that we still have some 3.75 million long hours workers. Their health and safety is at risk, their family life suffers, and it is very unlikely that their employers are getting the best performance from them.

I would therefore strongly urge you to make a clear proposal to the Council that the opt-out should be removed from the Directive, and I would welcome an opportunity to discuss this issue with you in the near future.

Yours sincerely

Brendan Barber

General Secretary

Press release (1,100 words) issued 19 May 2004

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