EU: Nobody can work more than 48 hours a week!

[Pat McCotter]

European Parliament votes to criminalise hard work
Posted By: Daniel Hannan at Dec 17, 2008 at 15:46:48

MEPs [Members of the EU Parliament] erupted in applause when the figures came up on the screen. No more opt-outs! No more Dickensian working conditions! Anyone who tries to stay at his post for longer than 48 hours, or who allows his employees to do so, will feel the full force of the law!

To Euro-MPs, that's the end of the matter. They can go home for Christmas feeling warm and smug: they have demonstrated, at least to their own satisfaction, that they are humane and decent people.

But what is the effect of this posturing in the real world likely to be? I'll tell you what, my friends: at a time when Europe is sliding into the vortex of recession, at a time when unemployment in Britain is over a million, at a time when employers are desperately looking to make savings, this ludicrous ruling will force a series of new costs onto small firms. It's not the limitation of working hours itself which is most objectionable. It's all the associated bureaucracy: the keeping of logs, the paperwork, the inspections, the opportunity costs. Big corporations, with large personnel departments, can assimilate such expenses easily enough. But for small and medium firms, operating within tight profit margins, this could be the difference between profitability and bankruptcy.

It's true that Britain's opt out gave it a competitive edge, which other EU states naturally resented. But the correct solution would have been for the Continental states to ease their restrictions, not to export them.

Let's remind ourselves of the right to free contract. If I am happy to work for you, and you are happy to employ me, and both of us are content with the terms and conditions, it is no business of the state - let alone of the EU - to come between us and declare that contract illicit.

EU leaders are like children on a beach, so intent on their sandcastles that they are oblivious to the incoming tide. But it's coming, comrades: listen to its roar.

[Pat McCotter]

Finnish unions relieved at rejection of EU working hour directive

Finnish labour unions were relieved that the European Parliament voted against proposed changes to the directive on working hours.
     In its vote in Strasbourg on Wednesday, the Parliament rejected measures that would have greatly increased the maximum number of hours that a person can work in a week, and eroded the benefits of those who are on call for possible emergency work.
     
"All of the key demands from the point of view of the wage earners have gone through", said Maria Löfgren, a lawyer for the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland (AKAVA).
     The most important issue for the labour movement was the rejection of the so-called opt-out arrangement, under which an employee and employer could agree to working schedules involving as much as 65 hours of work in a week.
     
Such a system is not in use in Finland, but it exists in 15 EU member states, including Britain.
     Now the system must be removed from national legislation within three years.
     "The opt-out allows unhealthy competition based on working hours", says Juri Aaltonen, a lawyer for the Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees (STTK).
     He says that the system has led to "ridiculously long working hours" in Britain.
     The proposal put to the European Parliament by the Council of ministers would have kept the opt-out in force. Wednesday's vote is seen by Aaltonen as a victory for pan-European protection of working hours.
     
Under the Parliament's decision, time spent on call at the workplace must be counted as working hours. Maria Löfgren sees this as an recognition that time spent on call is a burden.
     The directive allows for deviation from this as part of a labour contract, as is the case for hospital physicians in Finland.
     "Present labour market practice can continue", says Maria Löfgren.
     
AKAVA is also warmed by the change under which upper-level white collar workers and those doing independent work must be included in the regulations on working hours. The change was made at the initiative of Finnish Social Democratic MEP Lasse Lehtinen.
     "This is a very big issue for us, even though this has been familiar in Finland", Löfgren says.
     
AKAVA is also pleased that the review period for overtime will not be extended from four months, unless agreed upon by sector-based labour contracts.
     The directive sets a minimum standard for EU member states. Local legislation can certainly go beyond EU rules, and provide better protection.

[error]

One thing that will happen:

Well, the doctor can't see anyone until next week. He's already worked 48 hours! The poor overburdened soul...

[Ryan McGuire]

An employer could always argue along the lines of Zeno's Arrow and say they weren't actually working at all. But I don't think politicians are smart enough to even know what I was talking about.

People with desk jobs don't work the entire part of an hour anyway, at least scientifically speaking, you could add up all the time they were just sitting there thinking and not count that time. You could even hire people to swing weights around in circles to generate potential energy for generators that you only turned on after the worker went home. Scientifically, because the only thing they did was apply a perpendicular force, no work was done while they were "at work."

Sorry, I've been "at work" all day and am in a really weird mood.