Irish have longest working hours in EU
The figures were revealed yesterday as it emerged that changes to the EU's working time directive could mean longer working hours for employees and no compensation for being on-call.
The proposed changes were condemned by Labour Party MEP Proinsias de Rossa, the socialist group in the European parliament, the British Medical Association and by workers and employers groups.
Both the British and Irish governments have been lobbying intensely for changes and they were joined by the French and Germans after a court ruling that workers must be paid for being on-call.
At present all countries have agreed to a maximum 48-hour working week averaged out over four months. Now a new maximum of 65 hours is being introduced which can be averaged out over a year.
New rules are proposed for workers who are on-call where they must be contactable and available for work either at home or in his or her place of employment.
The changes mean that only the time spent actually working will be counted irrespective of where the worker is expected to be.
Medical staff, fishermen and truck drivers are especially affected by this in Ireland. A person who is on call through the night and gets only a half-hour's sleep between jobs could be expected to work a full shift in the morning, Mr de Rossa claimed.
"It is clear that the commission has caved in to pressure from business and governments, such as Ireland and the UK, that are totally opposed to existing EU-level limits on the working week.
"There is a strong correlation between long working hours and ill-health," he said.
UNICE, which represents employers bodies throughout Europe including IBEC, said it too was unhappy with the changes as they failed to make the rules flexible enough.
Secretary general Philippe de Buck said EU employees work on average of 160 hours less a year than in the USA and 230 hours less than in Japan.
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