by Keith Richmond
LABOUR MEPs will be spending their Easter break working out what to do now after all night talks on the working time directive broke down without agreement.
The failure of negotiations between the Council of Ministers and MEPs means that Britain – and 14 of the other 27 countries in the European Union – retains for the moment the right for individuals to opt out of the maximum 48-hour working week laid down by an EU directive.
Glenis Willmott, MEP for the East Midlands and Labour’s leader in Europe, said: “Labour MEPs tried to bring the different sides of this argument together so that British workers can have maximum flexibility whilst ensuring the health and safety of workers and consumers alike.
“At a time of financial crisis, Labour MEPs know that British workers need the flexibility to earn extra money through overtime, without endangering the health and safety of themselves, other workers or consumers.”
She added: “In December 2008, when the European Parliament voted on the working time directive, Labour MEPs tabled an amendment which aimed at such a solution. The amendment called for maintaining the opt out with a review after five years, so the impact of the safeguard measures brought in by this directive can be assessed.”
While Labour MEPs worked hard to try and broker a deal, the Tories, perhaps predictably, enjoyed the collapse of the talks.
Philip Bushill-Matthews, MEP for the West Midlands and Conservative employment spokesman, walked out of the negotiations at 4am. He said: “It was totally predictable that these negotiations would come to a stalemate. It was a sham discussion going round in endless circles.
“It is a positive result because it means the UK opt-out will remain intact by default. Thankfully, the Council of Ministers was not prepared to budge on its position. The political reality is that a majority of EU countries now want the right to opt out of this duff directive.
“There seems little point in us continuing talks when neither side is prepared to offer concessions.”
The problem – for individual governments as well as the EU – is that the failure to reach an agreement leaves the question of what to do about the hours of key workers such as hospital doctors and firefighters hanging in the air as a ruling that “inactive” as well as “active” on call time counts towards “working hours” now remains in place as well.
Negotiations to revise the working time directive finally broke down when EU governments refused to accept demands from leading MEPs that they scrap the opt out or, at least, set a strict three year timetable for doing so. A majority of MEPs – led by Labour’s employment spokesman Stephen Hughes – voted to end the opt out in December. Trade unions backed the MEPs but business groups lobbied hard for the opt out to remain in place.
Pat McFadden, minister for employment relations and postal affairs at BERR, said afterwards: “We have said consistently that we will not give up the opt out and that continues to be the case. We think everyone has the right to basic protection surrounding the hours they work, but also the right to choose those hours.”
A last-ditch effort to get a deal is expected later this month before the European Parliament breaks up for the European elections in June.
