EU working time protection is at risk

BECTU has described as “dangerous” proposals before the European Union which aim to cut working time protection for freelances.

In the on-going review of the Working Time Directive, proposers have suggested that there should be no protection on the length of the working week on contracts of 10 weeks or less.

“Many freelances work on short term contracts for different companies, none of which last for 10 weeks.

“If the proposal goes through, these freelance workers will have no legal protection against excessive hours”, explained BECTU’s Assistant General Secretary, Martin Spence.

Current rules provide freelance workers with a nominal entitlement not to work more than an average of 48 hours per week. In practice, few benefit from this and BECTU is fighting to get the rules strengthened.

However, if the proposal now before European legislators goes through, the current entitlement will disappear entirely, and freelance workers can look forward to dangerously long hours for years to come.

BECTU will be lobbying MEPs on this issue, as will the TUC and BECTU’s international organisation, Euro-MEI. Martin Spence and his team are also collecting evidence from freelance members to demonstrate the impact of the proposed change.

The review of the Working Time Directive is due to have its second reading in the European Parliament in the autumn.