TUC says UK workers are 'abused'

Report found staff were pressurised into signing opt-out clauses

The UK's opt-out from the European Union's working time directive should be scrapped because of widespread abuse in UK firms, the TUC says.

Britain is the only country in Europe that allows people to give up their right to work no more than 48 hours a week.

An unpublished European Commission report, obtained by the BBC, found that British workers were being pressurised into signing opt-out clauses and giving up their rights to take rest breaks.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said the report showed the UK's opt-out policy was failing to protect workers' rights and needed to be scrapped.

Long hours

The research, based on 13 case studies, was compiled by three Cambridge University academics and involved interviews with staff at several companies.

The report also found low productivity in businesses where staff worked very long hours, with stress and burnout being a major factor.

The research, which was asked for by the European Commission last year ahead of a review of the UK opt-out, was never published but a copy was obtained by the TUC.

It follows publication last week by the TUC of its own report that claimed UK workers put in more than £23bn of unpaid overtime this year.

Using official statistics, it was calculated that around five million people work an average of seven hours and 24 minutes without pay every week, worth £4,500 a year.

But employers' groups such as the Institute of Directors insist that most UK workers who put in long hours do so voluntarily or to further their careers.