Balancing Act: Landmark European agreement on working time and agency workers

A landmark agreement on both the review of the Working Time Directive and a new Temporary (Agency) Workers Directive was reached by the EU Employment Council in the early hours this morning.

The agreement, which secures the future of the 48 hour working week opt-out, has been welcomed by Business Secretary, John Hutton. He said: "This is a very good deal for the UK. It provides a fair deal for workers, without damaging Britain's economic competitiveness or putting jobs at risk." From the viewpoint of the CBI, the drafts agreed are "by no means ideal from the business perspective", but will allow the recent agreement between the Government and the TUC in relation to agency workers to be implemented.

Read Wragge & Co's expert analysis of this landmark agreement.