Great Britain: relief after the failure of negotiations on the “working time” Directive

For Alistair Darling, British Minister for Trade and Industry, it was out of question of accepting a compromise challenging the freedom to choose work schedules in a negotiated way. “We could not accept a text aimed at removing the opt-out principle. I think it’s great that we can preserve it – and I find it encouraging that an increasing number of countries use it”, he said. The individual opt-out is the faculty opened by the 1993 directive, which allows the employer, with the assent of...