At today's voting about the revision of the Working Time Directive, a large majority of MEPs rejected the "opt-out" clause and decided for on-call time to be considered as working time. This is an initial victory against the directive as adopted by the European Council in June 2008 resulting from the successful Euro-demonstration in Strasbourg on 16 December.

Thousands of workers took part in this protest organised by the European Trade Union Confederation in order to make clear the opposition to a 65-hour working week and the lowering of minimum standards in health and security. The MEPs of GUE/NGL as well as Vice-president Graziella Mascia, Executive Board member Christine Mendelsohn and other representatives from the Party of the European Left joined the demonstration in support of the workers' rights.

The result of the voting in the Euopean Parliament confirms that the positions of the EU governments can be changed by democratic means. However, the European Left insistst on the compete rejection of the Council's position on the flexible 65-hour working week, as the limit working week must not exceed 40 hours in every country.

A report from PCF about the context and demonstration is available in French here.

 
Download our flyer about the Working Time Directive in English and French .