Trade unions hailed a European Union agreement on Tuesday to give temporary workers the same rights as permanent employees from day one but urged EU lawmakers to better protect the maximum 48-hour work week.
Employment ministers from the 27-nation bloc agreed after a marathon negotiating session that citizens should work no more than 48 hours a week, unless they want to, but cemented Britain's right to opt out of those working time rules.
The deal will help end a four-year dispute between British- and French-led camps on EU labour market rules which pitched London's liberal economic views against calls for minimum social standards from Paris. "This is a major step forward for European workers and it strengthens social dialogue," EU Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla said.
"We have created more security and better conditions for workers and temporary agency workers while maintaining the flexibility that industry needs and workers want when reconciling family life and working life," he said.
Catelene Passchier, a senior official at the European Trade Union Confederation, described as a positive development the agreement to give temporary workers equal treatment in terms of pay, holiday and maternity leave from day one.
But she criticised the compromise on working time rules, saying: "Concerning working time, we are much less positive ... We hope that the European Parliament will correct that." The EU legislature has co-decision powers with member states on the legislation. Spain, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece and Hungary said they would seek changes there as they did not fully support the compromise.
The deal allows Britain to keep its long hours culture, secured thanks to an opt-out from the 1993 EU law, which sets the maximum length of the working week at 48 hours. "This agreement means that people remain free to earn overtime and business can cope during busy times," Britain's Business Secretary John Hutton said after the meeting.
But Tina Sommer of Britain's Federation of Small Businesses accused him of paying too high a price in terms of new rights for Europe's 8 million agency workers to keep the opt-out on working time.
"While British ministers pop champagne corks and hail this deal as a triumph, Britain's entrepreneurs will be drowning their sorrows," Sommer said in a statement. "In these difficult economic times, small businesses need to be flexible in order to grow, and this directive will be like a steel rod for their backs," she said. A group of countries initially led by France wanted to scrap the British opt-out, arguing the 48-hour week protects employees from exploitation and accidents.
The 1993 law had to be revised because of rulings from the EU's top court that when a person is on call at the workplace, even if asleep, it counts as work. This put many health and emergency services workers over the 48-hour limit. Doctors in several EU states have filed lawsuits against hospitals for not complying with the rulings, which would entail large costs for hiring and training more staff.
Ministers overcame the problem by agreeing that while inactive on-call time cannot be called rest, it can be called work only if national laws or social partners agree. The British opt-out was somewhat curbed since ministers limited the maximum number of hours worked in a week, even with an opt-out, to between 60 and 65 from the previous 78 hours.
They also agreed that seven years after the new law comes into force, the European Commission would report on the use of the opt-out. After ministers evaluate the report, the Commission may propose scrapping the opt-out altogether. Britain made room for a compromise by agreeing in May to give temporary agency workers the same rights as permanent ones from day one - a deadline moved with the consent of British trade unions and businesses to after 12 weeks on the job.