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UK told to impose 48-hour week


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Most European countries set a limit of 48 working hours per week.
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LONDON, England -- The European Parliament has voted to scrap Britain's opt-out from the EU's 48-hour maximum working week, reopening a long-running battle with London.

The European Union legislature on Wednesday voted by 378 to 262 with 15 abstentions to tighten rules on working time and phase out the opt-out over three years.

Member states must approve the final version in the EU Council by a qualified majority, so Britain must now recruit several countries to vote against the move if it wants to preserve the opt-out. It hopes for support from new former communist countries from eastern Europe who oppose stricter labour laws.

Britain expressed concern but said the vote was only a stage in a complex legislative process and the proposals would now return to the executive European Commission for revision.

"We are disappointed. We believe the working time opt-out is important for several member states. It allows choice for individuals and gives flexibility to labour markets," a British spokeswoman told Reuters.

The European Commission unveiled proposals last September to reform EU laws on working hours, aiming notably to cut arrangements in Britain that disregard the working week rules.

While the British government, along with the main opposition Conservatives, wishes to preserve the country's opt-out from the arrangements, Labour Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) want an end to the clause obtained by the then Conservative prime minister John Major in 1993.

"We don't want an opt-out and what we do want is a proper balance between work and family life in Britain and every other member state of the EU," Labour MEP Stephen Hughes told BBC radio.

Britain's unions have complained that companies force people to work long hours, and argue that this amounts to abuse of working hours principles.

The proposals by the commission, the EU's executive arm, would allow individual workers to opt out of the 48-hour week limit, but would impose stricter conditions to prevent employers from requiring staff to work long hours.

The commission, which published its plans last year after consulting governments, employers and unions across Europe, said the new rules would balance protecting workers' rights while responding to the needs of the modern European economy.

The reform is aimed at restricting exceptions to the general maximum working week of 48 hours. In Britain, at least 16 percent of employees work longer hours, according to EU data.

The reform proposed to the EU's 25 member states and European Parliament would allow the 48-hour work week to be surpassed only in the case of a collective agreement being negotiated between employees and employers.

The 1993 Working Time Directive currently in place provides only for individual agreements.

As a concession to employers, the calculation of average hours worked weekly will be made over 12 months instead of the four months currently.

Brendan Barber, general secretary of Britain's Trades Union Congress, said Tuesday that the proposal on the table was a "sensible compromise", adding: "It certainly does not go as far as we would like, but it does meet the key objection from most employers who encourage their staff to sign an opt-out.

"Employers say they need the flexibility to be able to cope with the peaks and troughs of workload. An annual average does precisely this."


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