EU 'closest ever' to deal on worker bills

BRUSSELS - Social affairs ministers will next week once again seek to agree on two controversial EU bills, one on temporary agency workers and the other covering working hours.

Interpreters for the meeting on Monday (10 June) in Luxembourg have been asked in advance to stay late, with diplomats saying the bloc's member states are the closest they have ever been to a compromise on the package.

Slovenia, which currently holds the EU's presidency, took up the idea of merging the two issues from Portugal, who introduced it last year during its own six-month period at the bloc's helm but failed to achieve a breakthrough, mainly due to Britain's opposition.

The EU's current working time law needs to be modified following two EU court verdicts regarding time spent by employees "on call", but its revision has been blocked by divisions over whether countries should be allowed to have an exemption from health and safety limits on working hours.

Until the unsuccessful attempt at a deal last year, talks on rules for temporary work had been on hold since 2004, mainly due to differences over the social rights of temporary workers.

But following the UK government's agreement with the country's trade unions last month to let temporary workers be given the same pay and other rights as permanent staff after 12 weeks spent in a given position, it is expected that the two EU bills may finally see the light of the day.

Rights for 'temp' workers

On agency workers, the biggest differences have revolved around the so-called "grace period." This refers to the period during which temping workers employed by agencies and sent to work in various companies are paid less than workers employed directly by those firms.

The European Commission's blueprint originally suggested a six-week period, while employers as well as countries such as the UK, Germany, Denmark and Ireland called for 12 months or more. Trade unions, on the other hand, backed by states such as France and Italy were pressing for a much shorter period or none at all.

A Slovenian compromise text, seen by EUobserver, suggests that "the principle of equal treatment from day one would be the general rule," while it would be possible for governments to reach agreement between unions and employers for exceptions to the rule.

The European Trades Union Congress (ETUC) has welcomed the move, and one diplomat commented: "Reaching a compromise on temporary workers should not be a major problem."

How long is safe to work?

On the other hand, the working time directive - which has outlasted six different EU presidencies, all of which failed to achieve a breakthrough - could still cause a lot of trouble for ministers in Luxembourg.

As before, the biggest controversy surrounds the idea of a so-called "opt-out" from the EU's rule of an average maximum of a 48-hour working week. The opt-out had originally only been used by Britain, but since the 2004 enlargement by a number of new member states, as well.

The Slovenian presidency compromise does not suggest a gradual removal of this exemption, although countries such as France, Spain, Greece, Belgium and Luxembourg have all previously blocked other compromises that similarly retained the opt-out.

Even before next week's meeting, the five countries' diplomats suggested the text on the table was "too pro-free-market."

The ETUC made the same point, noting in a statement: "If adopted in its current form, the revised directive will be the first social directive ever to introduce a regression in the level of protection provided."