by John Harrington
The European Parliament has voted to scrap the right of countries to opt out of the Working Time Directive. The move, if enacted, would restrict the UK working week to 48 hours and could cost the pub trade many millions of pounds, with managed operators saddled with higher wages.
But Prime Minister Tony Blair promised last week to thwart the move. "I have no intention what-ever of abolishing our opt-out," he said, adding that in his view the UK had enough support to block it.
The opt-out clause which is used a great deal in Britain allows workers to voluntarily contract to work more than 48 hours in a week.
A survey by the British Hospitality Association (BHA), the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) and Business in Sport& Leisure in 2003 found that scrapping the right to opt out would cost the entire hospitality industry £200m a year.
BHA deputy chief executive Martin Coachman, who has been lobbying in Europe in conjunction with the BBPA, said 200,000 people employed in the hospitality industry currently opt out of the directive.
It is feared that pub staff, and managers in particular, who tend to work the longest hours, would demand higher wages to compensate for the cut in hours. More staff would also have to be employed.
The impact would be less for tenanted and leased pubs, however, because the self-employed licensee would not have to abide by the directive.
"It's going to be substantial one way or another," said Coachman. "For the pub sector in particular there would be real problems because so many people work more than 48 hours."
JD Wetherspoon is believed to be the only major managed pub operator that adheres to the Working Time Directive, and has done so for a number of years. It employs an above-average number of managersper venue to enable the firm to do this.
The National Association of Licensed House Managers (NALHM) has long argued in favour of the directive, but NALHM president Dave Daley said his personal view is that managers should be allowed to work extra hours if they want.
Daley said the 48-hour week is "the future", and many younger managers are less keen to work for longer. But he said that at the moment, managers work on average 70 to 90 hours a week, so the financial cost of the directive would be "absolutely huge".
Coachman said: "This is bad news but it's not the end of the road. There's still a lot of lobbying to be done and that process is under way." He stressed, however, that the legislation was still some way from being passed.
The next stage will see the directive placed before the European Commission, which will decide whether or not to make amendments. Approval would then be needed by the Council of Ministers.