I am writing in response to your front page story ‘UK opt-out on scrap-heap as the EU votes to reform WTD’ (Personnel Today, 26 April).
Recent events in the European Parliament are indeed worrying for large sectors of UK industry.
As a significant employer within the construction industry, and as president of a trade association representing more than 1,300 companies with a combined turnover in excess of £3bn and a workforce of 50,000-plus, I am well aware of the negative effect that phasing out the opt-out under the Working Time Regulations would have on the service provided to clients by my company and my members.
Indeed, the Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association – along with other construction trade bodies – has lobbied long and hard, at national and European level, for the retention of the opt-out – a campaign that has been greeted with increasing sympathy by our colleagues in other EU states.
While the recent vote against the opt-out in the European Parliament’s employment committee has to be seen as a setback, it is very far from being the end of the story. It is simply one stage in the first reading of the Working Time Directive review.
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In other words, there are many more battles to be fought. This is not the time, therefore, for any of us to throw in the towel – or for the UK government to soften its stance against the opt-out.
Michael J Taylor
President, Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association
HR director, Lorne Stewart Plc
