European Parliament Votes To Remove Working Time Opt Out

The Government has vowed to defeat European moves to prevent UK employees from voluntarily working more than 48 hours per week.MEPs this week voted overwhelmingly to scrap the UK’s opt-out from the Working Time Directive, which limits to the working week to 48 hours from 2011.

The vote was described as “misguided” by the CBI and Business Secretary Peter Mandelson,“Millions of employees and businesses in the UK and Europe have benefited from freedom of choice on working hours for many years,” he said. “To take that choice away would be absurd. We're determined to protect the opt-out...Our focus is on helping businesses and employees through these testing times - not making their lives harder,” Mandelson added.

Trade unions, meanwhile, welcomed the decision. Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the Trades Unions Congress, commented: "This is an early Christmas present for Britain’s hardest workers and for the families who see too little of them."