3:45pm Thursday 19th March 2009
By Alex Lewis
ST ALBANS MEP Geoffrey Van Orden is working to put together a compromise on a controversial EU rule which he fears will mean disaster for hospitals, the fire service and private enterprise.
Left-leaning European politicians want to end Britain's “opt-out” from the 48-hour maximum working week, which allows workers to decide it will not apply to them – a loophole critics fear causes exploitation.
Mr Van Orden, a Conservative member for the East of England, took part in a conciliation committee meeting on Tuesday night in a bid to find common ground between the two sides.
He said afterwards: “I have been to hospitals and had discussions over retained fire-fighters in the East of England. It is clear that limiting the flexibility of the working week will have a disastrous effect.
"But it's not just our health and emergency services that will be affected: businesses need flexibility, not more unnecessary regulation to stay afloat in these difficult times. And family wage-earners need the opportunity to put in extra time to make ends meet and to decide for themselves how they want to work.”
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