2015 September epsucob@NEWS 14 - Working Time
Court ruling on working time may benefit home care and other mobile workers
The European Court of Justice has ruled that workers without a fixed or habitual place of work should have their journey time between their homes and the first and last customer of the day counted as working time. The case involved a Spanish security company that closed its regional office and required workers to work from home. The Court found in favour of the case brought by the FSP-CCOO federation and the case could have significant implications for many other sectors where workers have not fixed workplace and have to travel directly from home to different clients, customers or patients
Unions continue their campaign to negotiate 35-hour agreements
In 2013 the government imposed a 40-hour week on public sector workers. This was a five-hour increase without compensation. This prompted unions to begin a collective bargaining campaign across the public sector to negotiate agreements with local and regional employers to retain the 35-hour week. Unions like STAL and SINTAP have signed hundreds of agreements with government agencies, local authorities and other public bodies which keep the 35-hour week. Read more at > STAL (PT) And at > SINTAP (PT)
Long working hours pose threat to health
Long working hours can have a serious impact on workers' health as well as safety at work. Earlier this year, the Lancet medical journal in the UK published a major review of research covering over 600,000 men and women. The key conclusion was that longer working hours increase the risk of strokes compared to standard working hours. It found that individuals who work 55 hours or more per week have a 1·3-times higher risk of incident of strokes than those working standard hours (35-40 hours a week. At the end of 2015 the European health and safety agency, OSHA, published a study of the health
Survey highlights latest working time trends
The Eurofound annual survey of working time for 2014 reveals few major changes across Europe. At the cross sector level figures for average collectively agreed working time showed small changes in the UK (-0.3 hours), Slovakia (-0.1 hours), Sweden (+0.1 hours) and Spain (+0.5 hours, after an increase of 0.3 hours in 2013. In its sector analysis, there are figures for public administration which show an increase of 1.1 hours in Spain (to a weekly average of 36.7 hours) and a reduction in the UK of 0.5 hours (down to 37.2 hours). [Read more at > Eurofound->http://www.eurofound.europa.eu
Unions face challenges on working time
In recent months governments in Lithuania, Finland and Norway have proposed or implemented changes to working time legislation that have been attacked by the trade union movement. The Lithuanian trade unions organised a demonstration on 10 September against wide-ranging changes to the labour code that include reductions to overtime payments and an increase to the maximum working week from 48 to 60 hours. Meanwhile the confederations in Finland organised protests across the country to government plans to legislate on a number of aspects of working conditions that would include limits imposed on
Possible ballot of junior doctors for action over working time
Junior doctors, members of the British Medical Association (BMA), may be balloted for industrial action if the government doesn't make concessions on a proposed new contract. The BMA is particularly concerned about changes to rules on working time with fewer hours covered by unsocial hours payments. The union is calling for proper recognition of unsocial hours as premium time; no disadvantage for those working antisocial hours compared to current system; no disadvantage for those working less than full time and taking parental leave compared to the current system; and pay for all work done