CBI hits out at union attempt to call time on long hours

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has attacked a trade union campaign for a 48-hour week for UK workers, claiming that the move would take away employees’ right to choose how long they work for.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has lobbied the European Union to force the British government to end its opt-out of the Working Time Directive, which has already been implemented across most of the continent.

Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, presented a dossier to the EU yesterday, calling on Brussels to:

• End the UK’s opt-out from the directive, forcing employees to end their right to work more than 48 hours a week.
• Stop Britain including bank holidays in Europe’s total of four weeks minimum paid holiday a year.
• Toughen up enforcement of working time rights in the UK, following union claims of widespread abuse of current laws.
  

The TUC claimed that the ‘long hours culture’ in UK businesses was harming productivity, had a bad effect on family life and caused heart problems, stress and depression in overworked employees.

According to the TUC, the UK’s opt-out of the Working Time Directive has been abused as two-thirds of British workers have not been given the option to sign out of a 48-hour week.

However, the CBI hit out at the TUC’s campaign, claiming that the directive would deny staff the right to choose how long they work for and would put an end to overtime.

Susan Anderson, director of human resources policy at the CBI, said that the TUC was paining a distorted picture of UK working hours.

“It has failed to find evidence that there is widespread abuse of the opt-out.

“People should have the right to say ‘no’ to long hours and the directive rightly gives them that protection, but they should also have the right to say ‘yes’.

“Employees do not want the unions or politicians telling them when they can work or for how long. That is a decision for them, not the nanny state,” she said.

Despite government and business opposition to a 48-hour week, TUC boss Barber said that it was about time that the EU enforced the directive in the UK.

“We want action on three fronts – a tougher enforcement regime, stopping employers counting bank holidays as part of minimum holiday rights and ending the opt-out that lets employers coerce staff into signing away their rights.

“It’s about time we tackled Britain’s long hours culture,” he said.