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Personnel Today

TUC condemns the UK’s long-hours work pattern

by Personnel Today 12 Feb 2002
by Personnel Today 12 Feb 2002

The UK’s long working hours culture is "a national disgrace",
claimed the TUC general secretary John Monks last week.

Monks is calling for the Government to remove the employee opt-out clause
from the Working Time Directive. He said: "Employers left to their own
devises will allow the inflexible, excessive hours culture to continue.

"In the absence of more effective regulations, workers have no choice.
State intervention and regulations are essential for fairness – without it
employers hold all the cards."

Speaking at the About Time conference, John Cridland, deputy
director-general of the CBI, claimed the opt-out clause was essential for
providing staff with a choice.

"We believe the aim of the regulations is to protect vulnerable workers
from exploitation – to give them the right to say ‘no’," he said. "So
we will oppose any attempts to remove the UK’s opt out.

"It is about giving employees the right to choose. We want employees to
have the right and we want employers and staff to have flexibility to find
working arrangements to suit them both."

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The European Commission is set to review the operation of the employee opt-out
in 2003. The UK is the only European country to use the opt-out clause.

www.tuc.org.uk

TUC
Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

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