TUC attacks long working hours as ministers fight to save opt-out
Britain’s long-hours culture is injurious to workers’ health and undermines productivity, according to a pamphlet by the Trades Union Congress.
The TUC says Britain ranks only tenth in terms of productivity per hour despite the long-hours culture.
In a report entitled “Slaying the Myths”, the TUC claims working more than 48 hours a week increases the risk of illness, including heart disease and mental illness.
But the Government is determined to fight its corner over the opt-out clause on the working time directive in Brussels, claiming the 48-hour limit is at odds with Britain’s flexible, competitive economic climate.
The TUC, on the other hand, says over half of all workers are content to work 48 hours or less a week and points out that some 2.2 million people go unremunerated for their extra labours.
The trades union body also cites Government-led research showing two-thirds of people working more than 48-hours a week have not signed an agreement to release themselves from European legislation, a requirement by law,
The EU Parliament has already voted to axe the opt-out but the move must meet with approval among ministers, who gather this week in Luxembourg to discuss the next move.
MEPs voted to calculate average hours over 12 months rather than the current four-month period to allow businesses greater flexibility.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber heralded the decision by MEPs to axe the directive as a “victory for common sense compromise”.
“Working more than 48 hours week in, week out, year in, year out is undoubtedly bad for health and productivity,” he said.
“UK employers have had nearly a decade to implement a system free of abuse that gave staff a genuinely free choice.
“But research shows that less than half the workforce even know they have a right not to work more than 48 hours a week, and that two out of three who work more than 48 hours a week have not been asked to sign an opt out.”
CBI director general Sir Digby Jones said the directive would restrict Britain’s flexible labour market and hinder Europe’s aim of becoming the most competitive economy in the world by 2010.
