Working time changes blocked

National officials are having to look again at revisions to the Working Time Directive. This follows the failure of last month's meeting of the Council of Ministers, the representatives of national governments, to agree to changes.

The European Parliament voted in favour of ending the opt-out which allows individuals to work longer than the general limit of 48-hours. In response to this ministers started discussing a compromise proposal from the European Commission.

This would have kept the opt-out for a further six or seven years but also made possible its extension after that. However, the UK government wants to keep the opt-out permanently. It managed to win enough support to get the Commission's compromise proposal rejected.