TUC WORK TIME FIGURES "HARD TO BELIEVE" - CBI CHIEF
CBI Director General, Digby Jones, today hit out at the TUC's claim of widespread employer abuse of working time rules.
He said: "I find the TUC's figures hard to believe. DTI research has found little evidence that employers are abusing the working time rules and tribunals have received few complaints. Interestingly the number of people working over 48 hours a week has actually fallen every year since 1999.
"Removing the opt-out to the working time directive would stop thousands of people working overtime and remove a vital flexibility for employers. What gives the TUC the right to interfere with the freedom of choice of the individual in the vastly different world of work of the 21st century.
"The trade unions represent 63 per cent of public sector workers and only 19 per cent in the private sector. They have no relevance to the everyday working lives of over 80 per cent of private sector employees and over a third in the public sector.
"The trade unions should focus their energies on developing a modern, flexible, highly employable workforce and tackling the real issues of tomorrow rather than fighting the battles of yesterday. More companies are moving good jobs overseas. They will not come back to the back UK once lost".
7 September, 2003
Notes to Editors:A CBI-Pertemps employment trends survey, published last week, shows nearly 40 per cent of firms believe loss of the opt out would have a serious impact on their business. It suggests that a third of employees have signed an opt out and a fifth choose to make regular use of it.
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