Losing the freedom to work hard

[kinell]

MEPs have voted and so the first stage towards ending UK and 12 other countries opt out of the 48hour European Working Times Directive begins.

Wouldnt it be nice to only work say 35 hours a week and earn enough to pay for 145 hours of sloth?

That is not the real world but a lightweight left wing ideal.

How dare the state force me to be a couch potato.

The personal opt-out clause is in law totally voluntary now.........why any need to change?

[kinell]

Of course that should be only 133 hours of sloth.

[youngmafbog]

It'll get worse. Mandy having the ear of Government again now, soon just be big part of Bruxelles superstate.

Still look on the bright side, I work with Bruxelles people and beleive me there is no way you can get them to budge during an extended lunch break, as for working a minute past 5 well... And to work the weekend Unions must be involved.

[New Judge]

The need to change exists because the EU is intent on creating a single nation state for the entire union. To do this all laws and regulations must be homogenised so that no single country (or �region� as the Europhiles would prefer to have them termed) has any advantages over another.

The Working Time Directive is a prime example of this. The UK achieved an �opt out� when the regulation was introduced in 1993. The only surprising thing about the latest news is that it has taken this long for attempts to be made to remove the UK�s option. Normally when EU legislation is introduced from which one or more countries achieves initial exemption it is only a matter of a year or two before those privileges are quietly removed.

The rights and wrongs of the directive are debateable. I would suggest that it is up to individuals and their employers how many hours they put in. So long as they are adults and of sound mind they should be free to work as long as they like. This approach does not suit the Eurocrats as workers in some nations are more reticent thus putting their nation at a �disadvantage�.

However, the place to undertake such a debate is in Parliament at Westminster. The UK has now relinquished its right to make such decisions in so many areas, with many more to follow once the Irish have been bullied into accepting the Lisbon Treaty. I believe, many people are finally waking up to smell the coffee and the only way to address their concerns is to get this country out of the corrupt, inefficient, undemocratic quagmire that is the EU club, and start to run our own affairs again.

[rov1200]

With a shorter 35 hour week there should be work for the 3 million about to or already unemployed.