Deelakkoord bereikt over wachtdiensten in ziekenhuizen of bij brandweer (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Despite a lengthy debate almost breaching the daily time limit of interpretors, EU social ministers have again failed to reach a deal on rules for working long hours despite the UK's shift on an opt out from the 48 hour week.

The revision of the EU's health and safety law, the so called working time directive, has been sparked by a ruling in Europe's top court that all time spent by workers on duty - whether actually working or just making themselves available - should be regarded as proper "working time" regarding pay and rest.

Following years of negotiations, the main dividing issue among member states is the "opt-out" from a 48-hours weekly limit, mainly supported by Britain and refused by France and Sweden.

The UK presidency was determined to push for an agreement at the last employment and social policy council under its chairmanship on Thursday (8 December), but the final compromise position was rejected by 15 out of 25 countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Sweden and several "new" member states.

"We have made the most progress so far, but we are not yet ready to agree on the whole text", commented British trade and industry minister Alan Johnson.

In the final phase, the ministers failed to agree on whether or not a date for the eventual scrapping of the "opt-out" should be spelled out in the revised directive.

On top of this, they ended in stalemate over the issue of workers' contractual time limits.

So near and yet so far

Regarding "on-call time", the main reason for a revision of the directive, member states showed "broad agreement" with the European Commission's suggestion to differentiate "active" and "inactive" time on duty, according to Mr Johnson.

Such a solution, however, goes against the European Parliament's vote earlier this year, which ruled in line with the EU court that all time spent on call should be regarded as "working time."

But before the council's common version goes back to MEPs for a second reading, national governments need to solve the gridlock over the controversial "opt-out", yesterday's meeting made clear again.

In an attempt to reach a deal, the UK presidency went out of its way and agreed to point out in a statement linked with the amended law that working longer than the average limit of 48 hours per week should be regarded as an exemption to be gradually reduced and "eventually made redundant."

The rejected compromise text also included several stricter measures to ensure workers are not forced to sign contracts stipulating long hours.

Contracts or people

In a move which appeared to surprise the UK presidency, several countries finally blocked the compromise proposal due to provisions regarding multiple contracts used by workers.

While some ministers insisted the 48-hour weekly limit should apply to an individual worker, not a working contract, several member states rejected the final text on the basis of this wording.

"In our country, people sometimes have several jobs at the same time to improve their financial situation and a rule like this could make it more difficult for them", the Slovak social policy minister Iveta Radicova told journalists after the meeting.

Apart from "new" member states, like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia and Malta, the idea was also rejected by France, Portugal and Finland.