Workers’ rights put at risk by plan to scrap EU working hours rules, says TUC
Trades unions have warned that workers’ rights are in peril after the government unveiled new plans to scrap EU rules on working hours as part of its drive to cut “unnecessary red tape”.
The announcement comes as the proposed scrapping of up to 4,000 EU-era regulations by the end of the year was ditched after a private meeting with Brexiter MPs.
Ministers unveiled a package of regulatory reform on Wednesday in the retained EU law bill, which they said will help business cut costs.
The package included reducing “time-consuming and disproportionate reporting requirements” for specific elements of the working time regulations, the part of UK law which implements key EU labour regulations and rights.
But Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Council (TUC), seized on the government’s stated aims, calling them “a gift to rogue employers looking to exploit workers and put them through long, gruelling shifts without enough rest”.
On changes to holiday pay, which will see it calculated in a different manner from current EU law, he added: “The current law ensures that most holiday is paid in line with workers’ normal earnings, including regular overtime. Ministers shouldn’t be meddling with this.”
Trade secretary Kemi Badenoch said the government will retain the 48-hour requirement from the EU’s working time directive, and otherwise uphold the UK’s “world-leading employment standards”.
Her decision not to ditch thousands of EU-era regulations by the end of the year was met with opprobrium by Conservatives, with former Brexit minister Jacob Rees-Mogg tweeting: “Regrettably the prime minister has shredded his own promise rather than EU laws.”
Badenoch had earlier outlined the changes to a supposed “bonfire” of EU legislation,
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