ACS

The European Parliament (EP) and Council have failed to reach an agreement on implementing the Working TIme Directive.  They could not find a compromise on three crucial points: the optout, on-call time and multiple contracts. This is the first time that no agreement could be reached at the Conciliation stage since the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty which significantly extended the scope of the codecision procedure.

The Conciliation Committee, composed of delegations from Parliament and Council decided
that it was not possible to reach an agreement. This decision was adopted by an overwhelming
majority within the EP delegation (15 votes in favour, 5 abstentions and 0 against). The main stumbling block was the opt-out.

Opt-out
”Unfortunately, after five years of negotiations, it was not possible to reach an agreement.
The EP negotiation team made several proposals on the opt-out so that it would become
‘exceptional and temporary’. The opt-out cannot be forever. On the Council side, any attempt
to put an end to the opt-out was not acceptable”, said Mechtild Rothe (PES, DE), leading
the EP delegation.

On call-time and multiple contracts
According to rulings by the European Court of Justice, on-call time should be regarded as
working time. This position was defended by the European Parliament, in its vote on 17
December 2008.

The proposals from the Commission and the Council on the issue of on-call time went backward
in comparison to ECJ rulings, MEPs said.

No substantive agreement on the issue of multiple contracts could be reached either. For
workers covered by more than one employment contract, MEPs considered that working
time should be calculated per worker and not per contract.

This is the first time that no agreement could be found via conciliation since the Amsterdam
Treaty which significantly extended the scope of the codecision procedure. During next
week’s plenary session, Vice-President Mechtild Rothe will make a statement which will be
followed by a debate (on Monday 4 May).

Since there is no agreement, the current directive remains in force, though the Commission
can draft a new proposal from scratch. Such new legislation would need to take account of
the rulings of the European Court of Justice on-call time.
ACS met with MEP Philip Bushill-Matthews, to discuss our concern over this issue and press for long working weeks to be maintained.