DURING the Irish EU Presidency, the Government will be looking at ways to limit the number of hours transport workers and junior hospital doctors are required to work. Both groups are excluded from the EU Working Time directive, which will limit the number of hours most other employees work to 48 a week.
Details of the Working Time directive are given in a Guide for Employers and Employees, launched by the Minister of State for Labour Affairs, Ms Eithne Fitzgerald.
In jobs where seasonal or cyclical activities require a long working week the directive allows more hours to be worked, provided the average of 48 hours is not exceeded over four months, she says. The period can be extended to 12 months by agreement between employers and unions.
"I want to urge employers toe inform themselves now on the changes coming this autumn," she said. "It is for workers too."
The legislation would also ensure people had a minimum 11 hours' rest every 24 hours, a rest break after working six hours, and a minimum 24 hour break from work every week. People will not be able to perform more than eight hours' night work in any 24 hour period.
The legislation will also increase the statutory minimum number of holidays from 15 a year to 20. It will become law on November 23rd.
In Ireland 81,500 people, or 6.6 per cent of the labour force, work more than 48 hours a week. They are concentrated in agriculture, sea fishing, construction, transport, financial and professional services, public administration, defence and industries such as pharmaceuticals, fertilisers, dairy products, milling and preparing animal foods.
People working at sea and in transport, and junior hospital doctors, are excluded from the directive, but the Government is using the Irish presidency to examine alternative methods of giving them some protection.
Employer bodies, particularly those representing smaller companies, are strongly opposed to regulating the working hours of drivers. The most likely route the EU will follow is to refer the issue to the Social Partner Dialogue, which involves governments, unions and employers in tripartite negotiations.
The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association has already condemned the Government's approach to the directive. It says restrictions on working hours will undermine the competitiveness of many small employers.
Meanwhile the guide is being put on the Internet, the first document of its type to be accessible electronically. The address is http:/www. irlgov. ie.