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up to date with the latest Health and Safety news.UNISON treats the Health and

Safety of its members seriously. And will fight a support for a safe work place for all.

You can find information by contacting your local Steward/Health and Safety Rep.

Alternately you can contact me direct.

Malcolm Gibbs

Health and Safety Officer-)01473 584333 07711 269602(m) [email protected]

UK workers still work the longest hours in Europe and have the shortest holidays. A study from finance firm Bradford and Bingley found the average British employee works 8.7 hours a day – an hour a day more than Italian employees and 45 minutes more than the French and Germans. And whereas French workers get an average 47 days a year (including public holidays) and Spanish workers get 46, UK workers get an average of just 28 days.

The Working Time Regulations 1998, which took effect on 17 December 1999, introduced limitations on the length of the working day and working week and gave all workers the right to at least four weeks’ paid leave (this can include bank holidays). The Regulations limit the working week to 48 hours (with some exclusions) but workers can voluntarily opt-out of this limit.

Despite the regulations, the number of employees working more than 48 hours a week has risen from 3.3 million in 1992 (15% of the workforce) to almost four million (16%) in 2001, according to a TUC report. Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt has promised to "make serious inroads" into cutting excessive working hours within five years but has made no commitment to end the "opt-out" which the TUC believes has "minimised the impact of the legislation in curbing excessive working time". It wants the opt-out abolished.

The shift towards a "24-hour society" has resulted in an expansion of the groups of workers now working non-standard hours. At the same time demands for more "family friendly" and flexible working arrangements has meant that for a growing number of workers so-called "non-standard" working time arrangements are increasingly becoming the norm.

A study by Incomes Data Services (IDS) found that the pace of change in working hours and holiday entitlements had been relatively slow in the past year. The limited number of changes in hours and holidays that had occurred related mainly to the harmonisation of conditions for manual and non-manual employees. The annual survey of hours and holidays for workers covered by collective agreements by the Labour Research Department (LRD) also found little activity in terms of changes in hours and holiday entitlements.

The LRD survey found that a basic working week of 37 hours was the most common arrangement, applying to 39% of collective agreements and 41% of workers in the survey. Over half of agreements (55%) and workers covered (58%) had a basic working week of less than 38 hours and 13% of workers were on 35 hours or less. However, there was still a big gap between non-manuals (36% on 35 hours or less) and manuals (just 1% on 35 hours or less).

Nevertheless, where possible, unions were continuing to negotiate for reductions in working time, according to LRD. The survey highlighted 10 agreements where there had been cuts in hours with a further six having negotiated cuts due to be implemented in the following pay round. They included:

The IDS study found that 27% of non-manual and 3% of manual workers now work a basic 35- hour week. In organisations with harmonised conditions where all employees have the same basic working hours, 7% of employees have a 35-hour week. The average length of the working week across all sectors was 37.4. For public services, the average working week was 37.9 hours, in energy and water it was 36.9, retail and distribution, 37.9, voluntary sector 36.6 and IT services 37.3.

IDS documented 12 organisations where there had been changes in hours in the previous year, including three which involved an increase rather than a decrease in working hours (in one case the result of harmonisation.) Harmonisation resulted in hours reductions at Cerestar, where process workers saw their working week go down from 39 to 36.5 in January 2001; and at Blue Circle Cement where the hours of all employees (except drivers) were reduced to 37 from April 2001.

According to the Office of National Statistics, the average holiday entitlement for full-time, permanent employees in autumn 2001 was 25 days, excluding Bank Holidays.

LRD found few examples of improvements to holidays over the past year. Those organisations that did increase holiday entitlement included:

LRD found that 63% of agreements provided for at least 25 days leave as the basic entitlement (unchanged on the previous year).

The most common basic holiday entitlement in the IDS study was also 25 days a year, with roughly two-thirds of employee groups getting 25 days or more. The average basic holiday entitlement across all industries was 24.5 days a year. The study found 16 examples of improvements in holiday entitlement and two cases of decreases in annual leave resulting from harmonisation. Examples of organisations increasing annual leave included: