The European Parliament voted on Wednesday against the right for workers to work more than 48 hours a week, even if they wish to do so.
This in part goes against the desires of several governments, including Malta’s, and the European Commission, which are all in favour of retaining the opt-out clause and therefore leaving it up to the workers and their employers to decide how many hours they want to work.
The proposed changes to the Working Time Directive are still to be approved by the Council of Ministers, but last Wednesday’s vote supports union efforts to reduce the number of overtime hours, and limit the working week to a maximum of 48 hours.
Four of the five Maltese MEPs voted against the scrapping of the opt-out clause, realising that limiting the working week would be detrimental to Malta’s general situation.
While the vote submitted by Nationalist MPs David Casa and Simon Busuttil was in line with the European People’s Party of which they form part, and in line with the local government’s views on the issue, the no vote of Labour MPs Joseph Muscat and Louis Grech went against the European Socialist group.
In a note to explain the reasons behind their stand, they both said that while they realise that limiting the working week would create a better balance between work and leisure time, to do so at this moment in time would have a negative effect on Maltese and Gozitan workers.
It is in Malta’s interest that the opt-out clause is not removed, they claimed – the same line that the two Nationalist MEPs took on the matter. They voted against the removal of the opt-out clause, the four argued, because there is a wide consensus in Malta that limited working hours would not be beneficial to the Maltese economy.
Workers need jobs and, if they wish, need to work extra hours to earn that something more which will enable them to live a more comfortable life. A stringent working week will cut their income and reduce their standard of living.
Unlike other unions in European countries, the two major unions in Malta – the General Workers Union and the Union Haddiema Maghqudin – believe that there should be no capping of the number of working hours. Local employer bodies agree.
Malta’s other MEP, John Attard Montalto, preferred to abstain on the vote, saying that it was the most “judicious way out” of the situation. This is because his parliamentary group, the PES, was against the opt-out clause. Once he realised that the vote was overwhelmingly in favour of removing the opt-out clause, he decided not to add his vote to the tally but abstain – in his words “this resulted in not voting in favour of the working time directive and concurrently not voting against the direction given by… the PES”.
Dr Attard Montalto’s decision has been criticised by the UHM and the Malta Employers’ Association, who expected a common front to be taken by all Maltese MEPs in view of the consensus that exists on the issue in Malta.
The decision taken by the EP last Wednesday has its good intentions, but on the other hand it deprives workers of the chance of choosing to work more to make ends meet. Why shouldn’t workers – of their own free will and once they have the possibility – work more than 48 hours a week to increase their pay-cheque?
By voting as it did on Wednesday, the EP increased the time workers spend with their families, but at the same time helped reduce their income.
The offshoot of this decision could also be that workers will be driven into the black economy to make some extra cash, with all the consequences that this could bring.