The European Parliament yesterday voted not to allow people to work more than 48 hours a week, a move that could have repercussions for Malta described as disastrous by the Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise.
As expected, 421 out of 705 MEPs opposed a compromise agreement reached by the governments of the 27 EU members last June to keep the possibility of opt outs and allow employees to choose whether they would want to work for more than the legal maximum of 48 hours a week.
Last-ditch talks between the European Parliament and governments will now begin, with the outcome uncertain. Both have to agree in order to make the directive enforceable.
All five Maltese MEPs voted in favour of the compromise agreement, going against the grain. In fact, contrary to the situation in Europe, in Malta there exists near consensus in favour of the agreement.
In its first reaction, the Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise, in line with the position of the Eurochambers, which represents business interests across the EU, said the removal of the opt out clause will damage businesses' flexibility and capacity to react to fluctuations in demand.
"This is particularly counter-productive in the light of the economic crisis," the chamber said.
The vote is considered to be very negative for Malta's flexible labour market, a view shared by most of the Maltese unions.
EU sources said yesterday that a solution to the impasse is very unlikely to be reached soon.
"This is a direct confrontation between the EP and the European Council directed particularly at the UK's stand and the other 14 member states, including Malta, to use the opt out clause. Unfortunately, the most popular position among Europe's electorate is the one against opt outs and the major European trade unions back restricting overtime for health and safety reasons. Next year, being an election year for MEPs, will definitely not help towards reaching a compromise on this issue," the sources said.
Meeting in Brussels on the same day of the vote, the EU's Employment Council reacted negatively to the news from Strasbourg.
The president of the Council, French Employment Minister Savier Bertrand, said: "What is sure is that this status quo does not satisfy anyone, workers or employers. I think that it is going to be very difficult to find a solution at conciliation with the EP on this dossier, but we will try".
The same disappointment was expressed by EU Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla: "We are moving into a new phase of conciliation and all EU institutions must shoulder their responsibilities. The current directive allows for opt outs and the compromise reached last June was already progress. The EP has the right to express its opinion. The Commission will play the role of honest broker in the upcoming negotiations."
Taking exception to accusations that those MEPs who favoured the opt out were against workers' rights, Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil said he believed that working longer hours is also a worker's right, especially for those workers wanting to supplement their income to improve their family's living conditions.
On behalf of the three Maltese members of the Socialist Group, Louis Grech, Labour's head of delegation at the EP, explained that, despite the fact that the majority of MEPs in his group voted to limit overtime, the three Maltese MEPs disagreed and decided to back the government's position in favour of retaining opt outs. He said the three Labour MEPs showed that the interests of the country came before other strictly partisan considerations.