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the Press Release Index
6th May 2009
48 Hour Opt Out Under Threat
 European
election candidate Belinda Don was guest speaker at the
Ballater Conservatives coffee morning last Friday. Belinda
has been working closely with Struan Stevenson MEP to head
off attempts to end Britain’s ‘opt out’ from the 48-hour
working week imposed by the European Working Time Directive.
Ms Don later accompanied Alex Johnstone
MSP to visit Pitmurchie House care home at Torphins where
they met with Robert Deeming to discuss the potential impact
of the change on staffing and costs.
Speaking after the visit she explained
how the ending of the opt out from the directive would
threaten some our most essential workers, saying,
“This could cause real difficulties in rural
areas where retained fire fighters and ambulance staff are
essential to providing emergency services but where time
spent ‘on call’ may have to count towards their weekly
hours.”
“Where this may cause even greater problems
is for the thousands of disabled, sick or frail people who
have a live-in carer. If that carer is at the workplace 24
hours a day, even if adequate rest time is taken, this could
still be regarded as ‘on-call’ time, making this way of
working unlawful.
“Yet this threat to our services has come
through a vote in the European Parliament where, of the
seven Scottish MEP's, only the two Conservatives voted to
protect the opt out."
Picture shows Belinda Don with Alex
Johnstone MSP and Robert Deeming outside Pitmurchie House
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