24/01/2019 (Agence Europe) – In a statement issued on Thursday, 24 January, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) urges Member States to stop requiring a threshold of 20 hours worked over one month to be able to apply the future directive on the predictability and transparency of working conditions. “It will be unacceptable to workers if those with zero-hours or low-hours contracts are excluded from protection”, said Esther Lynch, ETUC Confederal Secretary. As a reminder, the European Parliament wanted any threshold to be removed, whereas the Commission had proposed 8 hours per month. Furthermore, trade unions lament the exclusion of workers from the public sector, emergency services, armed forces, law enforcement agencies, and seafarers. Interinstitutional negotiations on the directive have continued without making any spectacular progress so far (see EUROPE 12174). (PH)