It’s open war between the European Commission, trades unions and associations of industrialists following the proposal presented by the Executive on reform of the Directive on hours of work. The differences especially concern the threshold of the hours laid down for the working week. The Executive’s document which, in the words of Commissioner for social affairs Stavros Dimas, “is a balanced range of measures that safeguard the health and safety of workers, introduce greater flexibility and maintain competitiveness” introduces the possibility for member states to adopt legislative measures that would on a case by case basis enable the maximum working week of 48 hours to be exceeded, on condition that a written agreement to this end be reached between employer and employee. According to the European Trades-Union Confederation, to insert the option of exceeding the threshold of 48 hours per week in any legislation would mean “making millions of workers more vulnerable”, and penalising their physical and psychological health and that of their families. For further information: http://europa.eu.int, www.etuc.org.
