Nov 08 2006
European Labor and the Right to Sleep at Work
I’m not much concerned about European labor laws except as an indicator of the direction we may be heading - particulary as the Dems seek to pay back their union faithful. IHT posts a piece about Britain’s efforts to fend off the EuroUnion’s intrusive attempts to dictate working conditions among member nations.
BRUSSELS: Britain managed Tuesday to fend off efforts to shorten its workweek but deepened a rift with countries like France that are pushing for stronger worker protections.
Britain declined to set a date to end its “opt-out” from the maximum 48- hour workweek, favoring the system that gives employers and workers freedom to determine the length of time it takes to do a job. In many European workplaces, little will change because of the failure to adopt an agreement. Many countries already exempt members of certain professions, like lawyers, from the provisions. In addition, Britain will be able to maintain its rules under which workers can agree with employers to work longer than a 48-hour week.
The British position prompted France, Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain to block efforts to agree on a new, Europe-wide labor law - prolonging one of the most divisive struggles besetting European policy makers.
But the failure to reach consensus does mean continued headaches for some governments trying to manage their fire stations and hospitals, where workers generally remain on call, or even sleep at the workplace. Some governments in smaller EU countries said that they could not afford to fully staff their emergency services since the European Court of Justice ruled that time asleep counts as time at work.
A compromise could have provided these governments with more flexibility while still respecting EU law.
But as matters stand, nearly all EU member states are in breach of the current rules and face costly legal action. Vladimir Spidla, the EU commissioner for employment, warned that he would file more lawsuits as a way to force countries to comply with the current rules.
That’s it — if you don’t get your way, sue the pants off them.
