Working Hours (Hansard, 5 November 1991)

§ Mr. Kirkwood
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will consider seeking derogations from the EC proposals for limiting working hours of employees for seasonal agricultural activities;
(2) if he will consider seeking derogations from the EC proposals for limiting working hours of employees for food manufacturing dependent on shift, night and weekend work;
(3) what derogations are currently being considered in the discussions with his EC counterparts on the proposals for limiting working hours of employees.

§ Mr. Forth
In discussions on the draft directive it has been proposed that member states should be able to make derogations from the main requirements of the draft directive in a number of circumstances. These include activities where the workplace is at a distance from the worker's place of residence; activities where continuity of production or service is necessary; unforeseen exceptional circumstances which are limited in time and predictable peaks of work such as in agriculture. In all such cases employees must be afforded equivalent periods of compensatory rest, or, where this is not possible, other forms of equivalent protection. The Government consider the draft directive unnecessary and unjustified, but will continue to seek to limit the damaging effects of the directive, if adopted, on all employers and employees in the United Kingdom.

§ Mr. Kirkwood
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's current position regarding EC proposals for limiting working hours of employees.

§ Mr. Forth
A draft directive on the organisation of working time was proposed by the European Commission
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under its social action programme in July 1990. It is under discussion in the Council. Various amendments have been proposed by other member states in discussions, including a limit of 48 hours on the working week and a requirement for the weekly rest period in principle to include Sunday.
The Government question the need for this proposed directive, which would have a damaging effect on the flexibility of firms in the United Kingdom and throughout the EC, increasing their costs and prejudicing their competitiveness. Hours of work are best decided between employers and employees. The Government did not consider the Commission's original proposals justified as minimum requirements for the protection of the health and safety of workers. The Government strongly question the justification for further restrictions on weekly hours and Sunday work.