Brussels, 19/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - As anticipated, the European Commission launched the second wave of consultations with the European social partners on 19 May, as part of the re-examination of the 1993 working time directive (directive 93/104/EC). On 5 January, the Commission launched an initial consultation, which closed on 31 March, and sketched the outlines of the procedure to be followed for all Member States to respect the directive. The content of this directive was highly controversial within the Commissioners' cabinets, to the point of endangering the launch of the second wave of consultations (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.17 and of 6 January, p.7). However, all reluctance has been removed, which has allowed the procedure to be followed. The Commission is now calling upon workers and employers to negotiate or, by default, give it general indications on the direction the next version of the directive, which is expected for the autumn, should take.
The first consultations allowed the Commission to identify three main problems in the current legislation, which it lists in the communication adopted on Wednesday: 1) conditions for applying the "opt-out" to the 48-hour week (allowing workers to exceed 48 hours of work per week under certain conditions); 2) the implications of recent Court of Justice rulings that standby time should be counted as work time; 3) the period over which the average weekly working time is calculated (currently four months).
The Commissioner for Social Affairs, Stavros Dimas, told the press on Wednesday about the need to encourage the social partners to negotiate, so that solutions can be found. "We have tried for a well-balanced presentation of these various approaches (...). We must take this opportunity to renegotiate as soon as possible", he said.
As for the opt-out, the main objective is to guarantee the protection of worker health and safety, the Commission points out. It is therefore proposing four approaches respecting this goal, and which could be used as a basis for discussions. The first aims to make the conditions for applying the opt-out tougher, to ensure that it is genuinely voluntary, and is not being abused. The second is to authorise derogations to the provisions on maximum weekly working time, on the basis of collective conventions or agreements between the social partners. The third approach is to allow these derogations on the basis of collective conventions or agreements between social partners, whilst reserving the option for an individual opt-out, in the absence of this type of agreement for businesses which have no worker representation. The four approach was put forward by the European Parliament, in its resolution on the subject, and consists of the phasing out of the individual opt-out whilst meantime reinforcing the conditions for its use.
"We are calling upon the social partners to commit themselves and find a framework", said Mr Dimas. Without consensus, the Commission will present a proposal based on these principles, either separately, or in combinations. On defining working time, the Commission urges workers and employers to agree on a third category of time covering inactive standby or on-call time, to be added to the existing categories of "working time" and "rest time". If no agreement is reached on this point, the Commission will present an amendment to the directive defining this third time category, and clarifying details on rest periods after time spent on call. Lastly, the European executive encourages the social partners to agree to an extension of the reference period on which average weekly working time is calculated.
The results of the initial consultation showed that although workers and employers agree on the need to attack the problem of a balance between professional and private life, the current directive is not the appropriate legislative instrument to do this. However, the document encourages the parties to negotiate measures to improve the compatibility of professional and family life outside the context of this directive.
(The full text of the communication can be accessed at the following address: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/labour_law/index_en.htm)