Brussels, 16/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - Henceforth, self-employed bus and lorry drivers must be brought under the same rules on working hours as drivers who work for companies. The same rules will apply to all. This was decided by the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday 16 June, rejecting the Commission proposal of October 2008 by 368 votes to 301 and 8 abstentions. The proposal in question provided for not including self-employed drivers in current working time legislation in the field of transport. Wednesday's plenary vote confirms that by the employment and social affairs committee on 28 April in Brussels (EUROPE 10160 and 10128). After this vote, the Commission announced it would “study the different options, including withdrawal of the proposal”. Rejection of the Commission proposal directly results in Directive 2002/15/EC on working time, which provides for the inclusion of self-employed drivers in legislation as of 23 March 2009, to remain in force.
Those in favour of the Commission's proposal not to include self-employed drivers in the working time directive, and to focus on the problem of “false” self-employed drivers - a majority of the EPP, ALDE and ECR members as well as the rapporteur on working time for mobile workers in the transport sector, Edit Bauer (EPP, Slovakia) - justified their vote by the fact that “the self-employed are already covered by Regulation 561/2006 on driving time” and that “self-employed entrepreneurs are not as yet subject to working time restrictions in any other sectors”. After the vote, the ECR spokesman, Milan Cabrnoch, said: “Self-employed drivers adhere to strict rules on driving hours already. In the current climate they do not need to be tied up in unnecessary red tape. We have fought a long, hard campaign to defend the interests of self-employed drivers. Unfortunately Socialist dogma has prevailed”.
In a press release, UEAPME General Secretary Andrea Benassi expressed regret saying “today's vote .. limits the freedom of the self-employed to run their business as they see fit. This is disproportionate and counterproductive”. He added: “This will limit small entrepreneurs' freedom to organise their work according to business needs and will set an unacceptable precedent in EU legislation by applying major labour laws conceived for employees to entrepreneurs”. He earnestly called on the European Commission not to withdraw its proposal, saying, “the current proposal .. is a balanced solution to tackle the problem of false self-employed drivers while respecting the needs of genuine entrepreneurs”.
Stephen Hugues (S&D, UK) said: “This is not a question of freedom of operation for small businesses. It is about having sensible rules for safety and ensuring that EU roads are the safest in the world. After this second rejection of exemption, the European Commission must withdraw its proposal”. This is a successful “crash test” for Social Europe, said Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, France) - the EP has put the working conditions of drivers before the interests of the lobbies. “With the decision to maintain the self-employed in the directive, the MEPs closed a loophole to circumvent working time legislation. Now it is essential that this is enforced. Then, in the future, employers will not profit from forcing their drivers into false self employment. The same rules will apply to all, which is common sense, because both the employed and self-employed are human beings who get tired in the same way and become a risk for their lives and those of others”, Delli said, seeing this as an improvement in the working conditions of all drivers that will not have to work more than 60 hours a week on condition that the average 48H/wk over a 4 month period is not exceeded, including the time of loading, unloading, assistance to passengers and waiting, and hours of driving on the road. The Greens/EFA, speaking through Karima Delli, Emilie Turunen of Denmark and Elisabeth Schroedter of Germany, called on the European Commission to respect the “Parliament's vote and to call upon member states to immediately implement the directive, so that now the self-employed are also included”. On behalf of the GUE/NGL, Ilda Figueiredo of Portugal affirmed that “the Commission may only present a completely new proposal on working time in road transport”. Thomas Händel of Germany pointed out that the protection of people against excessive working hours is a problem that goes back 150 years! Little does it matter that it is a self-employed driver or employee who does too much. It is a question of protecting citizens against excessive hours of work which increase the risk of accident. (G.B./transl.jl)