New working time deal 'very likely'

The Finnish EU Presidency, which has called an extraordinary meeting of employment ministers for November 7, is very confident a breakthrough on the controversial legislation regulating the number of hours EU employees should be allowed to work, will be finally reached.

Finnish Employment Minister Tarja Filatov has revealed details of the Presidency's proposal, adding she is very confident a majority of member states will support the compromise deal.

The new arrangement offers member states the possibility of opting out of the proposed directive, however workers would still not be allowed to work more than 60 hours a week, calculated over a reference period of three months. That means a maximum 20 hours of overtime over a period of seven days will become the maximum.

Ms Filatov spelled out other proposed details which will apply for countries choosing to opt out.

These include obligatory negotiations with the pertinent labour market organisation (trade union) prior to drafting national legislation for the application of the opt-out.

At the same time, an opt-out agreement between an employer and an employee shall not be made when signing the original work contract or within the first four weeks of employment relationship. Any such agreement would be null and void.

The new proposal lays down that an employee may not suffer any negative consequences if s/he refuses to sign an opt-out agreement or if s/he discontinues an already existing opt-out agreement. Within the first three months, the employee can recede from the agreement with immediate effect. After this, the employer may require that the employee give three months' notice.

The directive also requires a working time log to be kept in order to ensure that the regulations are followed.

Member states going for the opt-out system and the Commission will have an obligation to submit a report on the issue. It is also being proposed that the labour market organisations of the member states and the EU will set up a committee to monitor the application of the system.

In order to become EU law, this directive needs to acquire a qualified majority at Council level.

Malta, which is still opposing the proposal insisting it has yet to discuss some minor technical changes, will probably find fewer members on its side this time round as some states, such as Italy, are said to be switching their stand and now opting to vote in favour.

Government sources last week called the proposal "a good basis for discussion", stressing however that further changes and clarifications are needed.