Labour will try to block 48-hour working limit
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Abby Karen Miles Truck drivers looking to Brussels for a shorter working week could be disappointed.
The UK Government has led the objections to the European Commission's plan to apply the Working Time Directive and its 48-hour weekly working limit to Europe's six million truck drivers. It wants flexibility for employers, and has signed Spain up as an ally.
EC officials now expect modifications to their proposals, ranging from a change in the way working time is defined (it now includes driving, loading and unloading and standby time) to a range of opt-outs and the exclusion of owner-drivers.
Critics say this would "blow the proposals apart'. Unions are determined to keep them intact, and will be lobbying EU national governments and the European Parliament this summer. The European Parliament strongly supports the proposals, and will decide the final outcome as part of an EC-brokered deal with EU transport ministers.
The Transport & General Workers' Union believes the only way to cut the truck drivers' working week from an average of mere than 60 to 48 hours is through the legal compulsion of an EU directive, with a phased introduction so hourly pay can be increased gradually.
The then UK Transport Minister John Reid shocked his EU colleagues by saying in the
spring that he wanted UK drivers to be free to work more than 80 hours a week. The UK has persuaded Spain, Austria and the Netherlands to argue for an opt-out.
The UK, Spain, Finland, Austria, Italy and Greece also want to exclude owner-drivers from the directive. Finland, which is against the Working Time Directive for truck drivers, takes over the EU presidency in July.
T&G national secretary Danny Bryan accuses the Government of "paying lip service" to improving conditions in the road transport sector.
"It is a gross disappointment if the Labour Government is talking about including an optout," he says.