MEPs from the European Parliament's Commission on Employment and Social Affairs adopted, today, November 5, the report by Spanish MEP Alejandro Cercas on the draft revision of the working time directive. This report, adopted with 35 votes for, 13 against and 2 abstentions, unravels the compromise reached with much effort by the Twenty-Seven Labor Ministers (see our dispatch No. 080696). MEPs from the commission say that the opt-out must be removed 36 months after the enforcement of the directive and on-call time considered as working time. The plenary assembly of the Parliament still has to confirm this position, radically opposed to the position of the governments, but the chances that this revision will succeed are increasingly small. (Ref. 080858)
End of the opt-out. Concerning the opt-out, Alejandro Cercas reminded shortly after the vote that, originally, “this clause was temporary, to help Great Britain adjust to European regulations.” Yet, after several years of blocking, Member States agreed in June to keep giving this derogation to the British in exchange for a step forward regarding temporary work. The joint position (see our dispatch No. 080696) recognized the possibility to derogate from the 48-hour threshold provided for in the
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