During the EU Labor Ministers' Council on June 9 (see our article No. 080475), the followers of a stronger social Europe got a tighter supervision of the possibility to avoid the 48-hour maximum limit for the working week. As for the compromise on the temporary work directive, it is almost at a standstill. But all Member States didn't buy it and, among those which disagreed, Spain is ready to keep fighting. The ruling party, the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Party), announced that it was going to take the lead of a "front against the adoption of the working time directive" because this text "breaks with traditional labor law in Europe." As a consequence, another negotiation round is going to start at the European Parliament. (Ref. 080482)
Organization of working time. Compared to the text presented to the ministers (see our article No. 080445), the main changes concern the opt-out, that is the possibility to avoid the 48-hour limit to the work week in the labor contract.
The original compromise already aimed at ensuring that the employee’s consent, required to overrun this limit, wasn’t considered as valid if it was given when the contract was signed or within the first four weeks of the labor relation. It also planned that this consent was only valid for one year, renewable, and that the employee couldn’t be punished for refusing the opt-out or for withdrawing his/her agreement.
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