Labour presses for 48-hour week cap

Scottish Labour has renewed calls for the working week to be capped at 48 hours after Brexit.

Leader Richard Leonard argued for the rights provided by the EU working time directive to be protected on leaving the bloc and for the removal of the current UK opt-out.

Labour has previously said the move would benefit 250,000 workers in Scotland. The party said the opt-out would be phased out gradually as earnings rise.

Mr Leonard said: “The provision of the so-called ‘UK opt-out’ from the working time directive has allowed for excessive working hours to prevail in breach of a measure designed to provide health-and-safety-based rights for workers.

“As a result, currently an estimated quarter of a million workers in Scotland routinely work in excess of 48 hours a week. This is no way to run an economy.

“In my view, we need to retain the provisions of the directive like the right to paid holidays, the right to time off between shifts and the minimum rights to breaks – including the additional protection afforded to young people and, over time, end the opt-out by managing a planned reduction of excessive working hours in such a way that earnings do not drop and new secure employment is created.

“This should be seen in the context of automation and the need to drive up productivity.”

The Labour leader said EU regulations had sometimes been used as an “excuse” for not implementing progressive policies, citing the tendering of the contract for Calmac ferry routes and the failure to make payment of the living wage a requirement for private contractors carrying out public works.

He said: “There is no doubt the EU has been used to force through a market-based approach to some areas of public policy where markets should have no place, which in turn has driven down growth, driven down wages for working people and driven up job insecurity.”

Picture: Getty. Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard.