Europe
The European Parliament has voted with an overwhelming majority to keep the working time directive strong. There were huge majorities on the three key points: a fair period in which to calculate the average working week; counting on-call time in the workplace as working time; and a phasing out of the opt-out from the directive. The margin of victory exceeded even the most optimistic predictions of proponents of a strong directive
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Working time and possible revisions to the Working Time Directive are likely to be a priority for trade unions at the beginning of 2015. The European Commission is not only undertaking a standard review of the implementation of the Directive but has also called in consultants to work on studies that will assess possible changes to the legislation. One of the studies is focusing on the health sector in particular and includes interviews with a range of actors, including EPSU affiliates, in the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy and the UK. In anticipation of a
The VPOD public services union supported demonstrations in more than 25 towns and cities across the country on 9 April calling for action on working time. The protests focused on the potential environmental benefits of shorter working time along with the positive outcomes in terms of gender equality and workers’ rights. VPOD noted that progress on working time reduction has been limited with average working in Switzerland still closed to 42 hours a week. The union underlined the importance of improving work-life balance and the prospects of having a fairer share of domestic responsibilities if
