Bosses Set To Attack EU Employment Rights

British bosses lead by the CEO of Marks & Spencer’s will meet the Government today to set out the 30 EU regulations they want to see scrapped including employment rights and scrapping health & safety provisions.  

Marks & Spencer chief Marc Bolland was commissioned by the government to identify “burdensome rules” from the EU.

Top of the list are employment rights with bosses attacking employment protections (as predicted by CTUF) including the working time regulations, agency and temporary workers laws, improved maternity pay, transfers of workers to other EU countries, transfers of workers between companies and health and safety rules protecting workers in small companies.

“Business people, particularly owners of small firms, are forced to spend too much time complying with pointless, burdensome and costly regulations and that means less time developing a new product, winning contracts or hiring young recruits,” Prime Minister Cameron said.

Simon Walker, president of the right wing Institute of Directors, said the proposals should be taken to next month’s European Council meeting: “Efforts which could otherwise be spent on innovation and investment are instead exhausted battling complex regulatory burdens.”

THAT UK BOSSES WISH LIST  IN FULL:

■ Complete a true pan-EU single market for the services industry.

■ Reduce existing overly prescriptive requirements on data protection.

■ Oppose EU plans for a new directive controlling shale gas exploration.

■ Reduce unnecessary financial reporting requirements for privately-held firms.

■ Slash requirements for written risk assessments in low-risk sectors.

■ Oppose plans to regulate traineeships.

■ Stop plans to require firms to offer 20 weeks’ maternity leave on full pay.

■ Stop new rules on firms temporarily sending workers to other EU countries.

■ Oppose plans to standardise employment dispute rules across EU.

■ Clarify the rules on the UK’s exemption from the working time directive.

■ Reconsider rules that give the same rights to agency staff as full time workers.

■ More flexibility for transferring staff to a new outsourcer.

■ Cut environmental impact assesments.

■ Make it easier for SMEs to bid for EU contracts.

■ Make it cheaper for SMEs to raise money on capital market.

■ Exempt oil firms from disclosure rules.

■ Reduce food origin labelling rules.

■ Reduce costly food law checks.

■ Cut cost of disposing waste for SMEs.

■ Reduce ability to mount legal challenges on environmental grounds.

■ Withdraw proposals for soil monitoring.

■ Create a pan-EU digital single market.

■ Slash credit card fees on inter-EU sales.

■ Complete free trade deal with US.

■ Clarify cross-border VAT rules.

■ Cut country of origin labelling rules.

■ Simplify chemical manufacturing rules.

■ Reduce clinical research paperwork.

■ Licence medicines faster.

■ End ban on crop protection products. 

Yesterday the manufacturing employers body the EEF to the Government to stop the row over an EU exit.