Dti announces new working hours restrictions

Friday, 4 July 2003 12:00 AM

Workers who were previously excluded from measures to protect employees from excessive hours and unreasonable working patterns received good news today.

The Dti announced that new regulations, coming into effect from the beginning of next month, will extend the scope of the Working Time Directive, under the new Horizontal Amending Directive.

Those affected include workers in the road, rail, air and sea transport sectors, as well as offshore oil & gas workers, and doctors in training - although the measures will be phased in for this group over a longer period.

The previous exemption had been allowed because of the additional difficulties that such industries were thought to face in adapting to the regulations.

The new regulations will guarantee:

- an average 48-hour working week;

- four weeks' paid annual holiday;

- rest breaks;

- health assessments for night workers;

- and an eight-hour limit on night-working.

Employment Relations Minister Gerry Sutcliffe said that the minimum standards "will be good for productivity and encourage
better work-life balance".

"Other industries have coped well with the Working Time Regulations and we are confident they can be implemented in these sectors without affecting employment prospects," he added.

The Government estimates that 770,000 employees will benefit from the change.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber welcomed the news, but said it was "unfortunate that junior doctors, workers in the North Sea, and transport staff have had to wait five years longer than most for these rights".

The TUC also claimed that there is no guarantee that workers will feel the benefits because of the right for workers to opt out of the working hours regulations.

The union umbrella body has called for the clause to be scrapped when it is reviewed in August. However, business organisations have insisted that far from allowing companies to pressurise employees into working unreasonable hours, it gives people the much-needed ability to choose to work harder to top up their pay.

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