A rule which allows workers to choose to put in more than 48 hours a week may end after MEPs voted to scrap it.
They voted to phase out over three years the right to opt out of the Working Time Directive.
Unions said the decision was a victory for UK employees, but business groups said competitiveness would suffer.
The plan would have to be approved by the Council of Ministers. The UK government hopes to block it from becoming law.
Blocking vote?
To do that, it would need to recruit other countries' support to retain the clause under qualified majority voting.
Under the current system - used more in the UK than elsewhere - individuals can opt out if they want to work longer hours.
The issue was about "freedom of choice", said the Director-General of the CBI, Sir Digby Jones.
"People who just do five hours a week overtime and use the money for a holiday. All I want to know is who's going to pay them for the money they lose."
He added: "The European Parliament has learned nothing about the challenge of globalisation.
"Presumably these are the same MEPs who will be complaining about employers relocating to China and India in the years to come."
The retention of the opt-out had also been supported by hospitals in Germany, France and Spain and small business groups across the EU.
But the vote saw Labour MEPs oppose the UK government line and side with many Socialists, Communists and Greens in backing the changes.
The Working Time Directive was first agreed in 1993, and the changes were debated as part of a 10-year review.
MEPs voted by 378 to 262 in support of a number of changes to the directive, including scrapping the opt-out.
MEPs also voted that on-call time should be counted as working time in most instances, and average working hours could be calculated over a full year, rather than the present period of four months.
"The measures we are supporting give workers a good degree of flexibility to manage their working hours," said Gary Titley, the leader of the Labour MEPs.
Business concerns
The T&G union hailed the MEPs' vote as a blow against the UK's "long hours culture".
General Secretary Tony Woodley said: "The opt out is harming the health and safety, the family life and the productivity of British workers.
"MEPs have done the right thing for British workers who have been put under unacceptable pressure to sign away their rights in the past by employer."
But Liberal Democrat MEP Liz Lynne said there should be "less drastic ways" of protecting workers.
"What is important is that wherever the opt-out is used it is truly voluntary, and reflects the best interests of workers," she said.
And other business groups including the British Chambers of Commerce, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and the EEF also voiced their disappointment at the decision.
"It flies in the face of the EU's decision to focus on growth and jobs and sends a strong message that the European Parliament is not interested in improving Europe's competitiveness," said BCC Director General David Frost.
The European Parliament has voted to change working hours legislation, to prevent people working more than 48 hours per week.
The EU Working Time Directive already says that workers should not put in more than 48 hours, but it allows countries to opt out from this part of the legislation.
Where a country has an opt-out, employers can ask workers to work longer hours, but workers who refuse cannot be penalised.
Now the parliament has voted to phase out the opt-out - but their proposals have yet to be approved by EU governments.
The BBC News website asks what happens next.
What did the parliament decide?
It voted to phase out the opt-out, so that within three years of the new directive coming into force, no-one would work more than 48 hours per week, including overtime, averaged over 12 months.
Chief executives and senior managers would be exempt.
This was just the first reading, however. The legislative process has a long way to run.
What happens next?
The next stage is for EU member states to discuss changes to the Working Time Directive. However, they take the European Commission's proposals as their starting point, not the parliament's.
The Commission drafted its recommendations last September. These would leave the opt-out in place but make it harder for employers to press staff into working more than 48 hours against their will.
The Commission can alter its proposals in the light of the parliament's vote, but Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla said on Tuesday that he was against scrapping the opt-out.
When do the member states have a say?
Ministers from the 25 member states are likely to discuss the European Commission's proposals at a Council of Ministers meeting on 3 June, but they may not take a decision immediately.
European trade union leaders, who are in favour of scrapping the opt-out, say they fear that the issue will not be resolved before the end of Luxembourg's presidency of the European Union on June 30.
What position are the member states likely to take?
British MEP Stephen Hughes said on Tuesday that, as well as the UK, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Latvia and Malta wanted to keep the opt-out. If none of these defects to the anti-opt-out camp, they should just be able to block the parliament's initiative.
France, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Greece, Hungary and Finland are on the other side, according to Mr Hughes.
It has been suggested that Germany is backing the UK on the Working Time Directive in return for the UK's help, in the past, to shoot down a version of the Takeover Directive that Germany strongly opposed.
How long could it take to reach a final decision?
It could take many months, unless the Council of Ministers backs the Parliament's decision to end the opt-out.
Both institutions are likely to hold second readings. These can be separated by gaps of up to three months. The Council has not yet held a first reading.
Ultimately, there is a procedure called conciliation, in which teams of negotiators from both institutions attempt to reach a compromise. If they fail, the legislation dies.
The country that holds the presidency of the EU can sometimes help the Parliament and Council reach a compromise. The UK, which holds the presidency in the second half of 2005, is unlikely to do this.
Why does the UK want to maintain the opt-out?
WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE Guarantees workers 11 hours' rest per day and regular breaks Weekly working time of 48 hours, on average, or less Minimum annual holiday of four weeks Night working to be limited, usually, to eight hours out of 24
The latest EU statistics show an unemployment rate of 4.7% in the UK (seasonally adjusted) compared with 8.9% in the eurozone.
What is the main reason for scrapping it?
The report from the European Parliament's Employment Committee, says the opt-out "contradicts all the evidence that indicates that working time without limits poses a serious risk to workers' health and safety, as well as to the reconciliation of family and professional life".
Which countries take advantage of the opt-out from the 48-hour week?
The UK and Malta are the main ones. Luxembourg has a limited opt-out for the hotel and catering industry. Germany, France and Spain introduced an opt-out for the health sector after a ruling by the European Court of Justice, which said that time spent on-call counted as work.
How many hours do workers work, in practice?
According go the European Trade Union Confederation, full-time workers in the UK work for an average of 44 hours, compared with about 40 hours in the 14 other longstanding EU member states.
The ETUC says about 16% of the UK labour force works more than 48 hours per week, and that two-thirds are unaware of the 48-hour limit.
France introduced a 35-hour week in 1998 but the French parliament relaxed the rules in March 2005.
What else does the Working Time Directive do, apart from limiting the length of the working week?
Among other things, it guarantees at least four weeks' paid annual leave; a minimum period of 11 hours' rest every 24 hours, and one day a week; a rest break if the working day is longer than six hours; and a maximum of eight hours' night work, on average, in each 24.
What other changes have the Commission and the Parliament proposed?
The Commission has suggested that no-one should work more than 65 hours a week.
Both the Commission and the Parliament suggest that the average number of hours worked by an employee should be calculated over one year, rather than four months.
The Commission has said that time when someone is on-call, but not working, should not be counted as working time. The Parliament has taken the opposite view.
News
Forums
