Working Time Directive: Parliament’s vote disastrous for Europe’s economy

By adopting the Employment Committee’s report on the Working Time Directive today, the European Parliament has taken a disastrous decision for European business.

The deletion of the ‘opt-out’ provision from the rule of the maximum working time of 48 hours per week will damage businesses’ flexibility and capacity to react to fluctuations in demand. This is particularly counter-productive in the light of the economic crisis. In addition, considering inactive on-call time as paid working time will hamper the effective provision of key public services across the EU, as well as having negative consequences on a number of private sectors. This will also put pressure on financing and lead to severe problems of work organisation in some work places. PRESS ROOM

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