1. Revision of the Working Time Directive CBSP Committee 7 November 2012 Jorma Rusanen

2. 1. Revision of the Working Time Directive  Pre vious attempts to revise the WTD failed  Failed conciliation process between EP and Council, spring 2009  Here we are going again  The Commission’s 1st consultation March 2010 – 2nd consultation December 2010 [Communication COM(2010) 801/3]  The Social Partners started negotiations on 8 December 2011  Negotiations are difficult; what are the possibilities to succeed after so many years stalemate?  We must be ready for the ”plan B”, if …  What is sure, the Commission will give its legislative proposal in case negotiations fail  Key issues remain: a health and safety Directive  Working hours (opt-out), on-call, reference periods, daily/weekly rest, paid annual leave/sick leave, reconciliation of work and family life, autonomous workers (senior management)

3. The Working Time Directive (2) The negotiations between ETUC, BusinessEurope, CEEP and UEAPME 9 months => From December to (September) December 2012 – The social partners asked and got 3 months extension from the Commission Aim: an agreement, to be implemented by Council decision (Directive) Next meetings: 21, 23 and 30 November, 3 December; earlier meetings: 10 February, 8 March, 20 April, 10-11 May (fact-finding seminar), 26 June, 24 September and 31 October ETUC: A broader revision of the directive Solid, wide mandate adopted by the ETUC Executive Committee on 19 October Now on the table put by us: 1) opt-out, 2) reconciliation of work and family life, 3) definition of autonomous workers (managerial staff) BusinessEurope: Narrow revision Wants to limit the revision to three issues – On-call time, paid annual leave/sick leave, reference period and compensatory rest

4. The Working Time Directive (3) The ETUC’s and industriAll’s key demands: – Workers health and safety at work cannot be subordinated to purely economic or financial considerations; – End to the opt-out; – Respect of on-call work as working time (ECJ case law); – Equivalent compensatory rest being fundamental (ECJ case law); – No prolongation of reference periods without sufficient safeguards and – Maximum working time has to be counted per worker and not per contract – Protection of managerial staff

5. The Working Time Directive (4) BUSINESSEUROPE, CEEP, UEAPME: On-call time: the distinction between active / inactive working time, only the active part of on-call being regarded as working time Annual leave/sick leave: MS to determine the conditions; not in compliance with ECJ cases Reference periods: to extend to 12 months also by means of national legislation Compensatory rest period: ‘within a reasonable period’ to be determined by national legislation, collective agreement or agreement concluded between the social partners; the proposal is in conflict with the purpose and scope of the directive and the ECJ judgments Opt-out

6. The Working Time Directive (5) The ETUC’s other actions: The ETUC launched an information and awareness campaign on working time to back up negotiations; The ETUC and its national affiliates promote legal action against a Member State for failure to comply with European working time regulation At the same time: EU Commission has launched an infringement procedure against 2 MS (Ireland and Greece) for serious violation of the WTD – Junior doctors’ working time The ETUC has encouraged the Commision to put an end to excessive working hours in Europe and to investigate the situation in other MS