March 2004 Article issued to Chamber of Commerce newsletters March 2004

From John Purvis, CBE, MEP

DAMAGING LOSS
Losing the opt-out from the 48-hour working week has the potential to severely damage Scottish businesses. The European Parliament has called for the gradual elimination of the individual opt-out clause in the Working Time Directive which allows employees to waive their rights to a limited working week. This is not yet legislation but business should be conscious of which way the wind is blowing and begin thinking how to operate without this opt out. My colleagues and I, who argued and voted against this move, were in a minority and it was adopted by 370 to 116. It makes me wonder how many MEPs have ever tried to run a business because, if they had, they would know how impractical it is not to have flexibility. As David Frost, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce reported last month, this EU directive is the “single biggest financial burden on business to come from Europe.” The opt-out clause, which was negotiated by the UK in 1993, authorised member states not to apply the 48-hour limit if agreements are signed in advance with individual employees. The agreement is only widely used in the UK, where it has allowed employers to continue to manage their businesses and some employees to earn significant overtime. The opt-out clause is not a threat to workers’ rights. Few employers, especially those who are paying high overtime rates, are likely to require such long working hours on a regular basis. If they do, they should be looking at the reasons. Most businesses do, however, need the flexibility to be able to call on their employees to pull out all the stops when a rush order is being processed or when a crisis, which threatens the operation of the business, such as a break-down in the IT system, needs to be sorted out. If this is followed up with legislation we risk losing that flexibility and, with it, vital economic opportunities - and jobs. In defending the golden egg of workers’ rights, the EU could be killing the goose that laid it.

John Purvis is a member of the Committee on Industry, External Trade Research and Energy and Vice Chairman of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. He can be contacted by e-mail at jpurvis@europarl.eu.int or visit his website on www.scottishtorymeps.org.uk.

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