ETUC calls for working time delay

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has called on the European Commission not to rush into new proposals for a revised working time directive.

The previous attempt to revise the directive, which places an average 48-hour limit on weekly working, collapsed in April this year after more than four and a half years’ discussion.

The executive meeting of the ETUC last month agreed that there should be “a period of reflection before any future revision of the directive”.

However, the ETUC also called on the European Commission to ensure that existing EU rules on working time are properly applied. For example, the European Court of Justice has already ruled that on-call time when individuals are on the premises must be considered as working time.

But while the revised directive continued to be under discussion, no action was taken to compel member states to alter their laws accordingly.

This is now no longer the case, and the ETUC has called on the Commission to initiate what are known as “infringement proceedings” against states “who are significantly failing to implement the working time directive.”

It is not clear how many EU states are in breach of the existing rules. However, the social Commissioner, Vladimir Špidla, has said it could be a “fairly high” number and he has given a pledge to start infringement proceedings “where this is necessary”.