The European Parliament meeting in plenary session in Strasbourg from 9 to 12 May voted its support for the report presented by Spanish MEP Alejandro Cercas on the draft Directive regarding the organization of work in the EU. The EP, adopting a position different from that hitherto taken by the Commission, asks EU member states to suppress the right recognized to every worker to renounce 48-hour limitation on the maximum weekly hours of work (so-called “opting out” clause, especially used by Great Britain). “We must – explained Cercas combine flexibility with respect for the minimum norms of a modern European society”. MEPs also ask that hours of availability be considered as hours of work. This issue was at the centre of particular political attention in EU headquarters, already involved in other economic and trade-union issues; we may think of the so-called “Bolkestein directive” for the liberalization of services; the free circulation of skilled workers; and the problem of Chinese competition in the European textile sector.
