Ministers agree on agency workers and working time[fr][de] 

The deal on the 'Working Time Directive' limits workers to a weekly maximum of 48 hours, but allows the social partners to find 'flexible arrangements' if granted approval by the employer. The insertion of this clause, under which workers could effectively put in up to 60-65 weekly hours, was one of the UK government's main demands, while Spain and other nations lobbied heavily against it. 

As a safeguard, workers will not be eligible to sign waivers during their first month of employment and cannot be penalised for declining to do so. The EU had pushed for the restrictions after a survey found a third of British employees had signed such 'opt-out' forms. 

A bloc including Spain, Belgium and Greece resisted the compromise, labelling it a step back from the EU goal of greater security for workers, but most countries expressed their satisfaction with the deal.

At the same time, ministers also reached agreement on strengthening the rights of temporary agency workers, granting them the same rights in areas like holiday and sick pay as their permanent colleagues. Due to heavy UK lobbying, this right is only granted after employees have been in the job for 12 weeks, while the Commission had proposed a so-called 'grace period' of just six weeks. 

UK Business Secretary John Hutton described the 12-hour meeting's outcome as "a very good deal for Britain". However, it still faces a heavy battle in the European Parliament, where a vote is due before the end of the year. 

Slovenian Minister for Labour, Family and Social Affairs Marjeta Cotman, whose country still holds the EU Presidency until the end of June, said: "We have succeeded in finding a key balance between the employment security of such workers and labour market flexibility. The Working Time Directive brings flexible working time arrangements on the one hand and ensures the protection of workers' rights on the other." 

French Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand, whose country agreed to the compromise after having opposed the UK position for the past four years, said "there will be greater guarantees for Europe's workers of tomorrow". However, he urged his colleages to "redouble our efforts'' to win the agreement of EU lawmakers. 

Employment Commissioner Vladimir Špidla, however, considered the agreement a "major step forward for European workers", saying that "we have created more security and better conditions for workers [...] while maintaining the flexibility that industry needs and workers want when reconciling family and working life". 

Support for the agency workers directive came from trade unions and public service employers, while businesses criticised it for increasing the administrative and financial burden instead of enhancing flexibility. 

MEPs meanwhile were critical of the ministers' working time deal. 

Austrian Socialist MEP Harald Ettl labelled the agreement a "step backwards", saying that it remained far behind what social partners and the European Parliament had agreed upon. 

German Green MEP Elisabeth Schroedter  described the deal as a "major backlash for workers' protection," criticising the UK for "picking holes in European labour law".