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EU Parliament OKs 48-Hour Maximum Workweek
AP ^ | 5/11/5 | JAN SLIVA

Posted on 05/11/2005 12:54:53 PM PDT by SmithL

STRASBOURG, France -- Amid concern that worker fatigue leads to accidents on the job, the European Union parliament voted Wednesday to abolish loopholes that give member states — especially Britain — a way around the bloc's 48-hour maximum workweek.

The dispute strikes at the heart of a growing debate within the EU on balancing labor and leisure, profits and safety.

The measure would get rid of a clause that allows employees to work longer hours if they agree with their employer to do so. It still needs backing from EU governments to become law, and Britain may have enough countries on its side to block it.

Still, Wednesday's vote is likely to embolden Britain's strong Euro-skeptic camp in a crucial year of referendums on a proposed European constitution that envisions ever closer European integration.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: euroweenies
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1 posted on 05/11/2005 12:54:53 PM PDT by SmithL
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To: SmithL

Good work on the bypass surgery. lets sew him up, oops hit 48 hours I'm outta here, ciao.


2 posted on 05/11/2005 12:57:18 PM PDT by Semper Paratus
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To: SmithL

I think it is wonderful. Let the EU slip into poverty.


3 posted on 05/11/2005 1:00:11 PM PDT by CasearianDaoist
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To: SmithL

EU works 48 hour/per week. Un proposes tax for the poor, US works 40+ plus - we'll pick up the tab!! No problem!!


4 posted on 05/11/2005 1:00:35 PM PDT by 26lemoncharlie ('Cuntas haereses tu sola interemisti in universo mundo!')
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To: SmithL

How to Kill Entrepeneurs 101. Can you imagine tring to get a small company off the ground working only 48 hours a week? Or does this only apply to employees?


5 posted on 05/11/2005 1:01:08 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: SmithL
48 hours maximum. What a bunch of EU losers. When I started my business I would work 120 days straight with no day of and do 50-65 hours a week minimum.

Oh well perhaps they want to become muslim.

6 posted on 05/11/2005 1:02:44 PM PDT by NEBUCHADNEZZAR1961
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To: SmithL

I guess that means we don't have to worry about the EU becoming a military superpower.


7 posted on 05/11/2005 1:03:00 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
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To: Paleo Conservative

Wonder what will happen to all these rules and regulations when the germans and the french people decide to vote down the EU constitution later this year.


8 posted on 05/11/2005 1:04:15 PM PDT by edcoil (Reality doesn't say much - doesn't need too)
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To: SmithL
The measure would get rid of a clause that allows employees to work longer hours if they agree with their employer to do so.

Huh?...

In my early years in the printing trade as a pressman, I worked 6:00pm to 6:00am M-S and sometimes Sunday too for almost a year....bought property in the Poconos with that money.

What's the beef about overtime?

FMCDH(BITS)

9 posted on 05/11/2005 1:07:49 PM PDT by nothingnew (I fear for my Republic due to marxist influence in our government. Open eyes/see)
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To: SmithL

The notion of a "common market" makes sense. The notion that Italians, Germans, and Frenchmen should determine how many hours an Englishman works is just plain nutty.


10 posted on 05/11/2005 1:09:21 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Semper Paratus

"Lufthansa 451, turn right heading 050 and advise...whoops, 48 hours! Lufthansa 451, climb and maintain fl 230 and hold south on the 055 radial of CDG, Ill be back on Monday..."


11 posted on 05/11/2005 1:10:24 PM PDT by cardinal4 (Newly Discovered breed of Cephalopod - Billius Fristus)
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To: nothingnew

The beef may be as simple as the idea that getting rid of examples such as the one about yourself is a good way to get rid of the middle class. IF you can't work extra hours for more money, you have less.....


12 posted on 05/11/2005 1:17:21 PM PDT by WoofDog123
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To: SmithL

I wonder how long it will be before some do-gooder in Congress tries this.


13 posted on 05/11/2005 1:18:34 PM PDT by newgeezer (Just my opinion, of course. Your mileage may vary.)
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To: SmithL
So now the EU Parliament has actual legislative powers? FTAA, anyone?
14 posted on 05/11/2005 1:23:50 PM PDT by inquest (FTAA delenda est)
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To: NEBUCHADNEZZAR1961

"What a bunch of EU losers."

lol, Exactly


15 posted on 05/11/2005 1:27:58 PM PDT by Betaille (Harry Potter is a Right-Winger)
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To: NEBUCHADNEZZAR1961

This is the same EU parliament that just "created" 1 million useless govt. jobs. They don't understand how wealth is created.


16 posted on 05/11/2005 1:28:59 PM PDT by Betaille (Harry Potter is a Right-Winger)
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To: edcoil

The germans do not get to vote on this.


17 posted on 05/11/2005 1:33:02 PM PDT by CasearianDaoist
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To: SmithL

Wow, only 48 hours would give me Thursday through Sunday off every week.


18 posted on 05/11/2005 1:33:10 PM PDT by Crawdad (I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no class.)
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To: SmithL

The EU bureaucrats trying to bring down the British economy after they ruined the French and German economies.


19 posted on 05/11/2005 1:41:57 PM PDT by george wythe
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To: SmithL

Ve haf vays to make you Vacation, you pitiful Kapitalist!


20 posted on 05/11/2005 1:47:44 PM PDT by LexBaird ("Democracy can withstand anything but democrats" --Jubal Harshaw (RA Heinlein))
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