Ministers including Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are reported to be plotting to scrap the EU working time directive.  This is a crucial piece of EU law that protects working people – and which working people were promised would still apply after Brexit.  If Johnson and Gove succeed, 7 million workers could lose their guaranteed legal right to paid holidays. That includes nearly 5 million women and many workers on part-time and zero-hours contracts.

Stripped of the laws that restrain them, bad bosses could force their staff to work excessive hours, far above the current limit of 48 hours a week. Lunch and rest breaks would be under threat too, as would health and safety protections for night workers.  Workers in sectors like health and transport are more likely to make dangerous mistakes if they’re overworked and exhausted.

Since these rules were introduced, in 1998, they have transformed working life – and family life too. Everyone deserves the guarantee of time off to rest, relax and spend with family and friends.
And it’s not just about the working time directive. If Johnson, Gove and their allies win on this, they’ll surely be emboldened to come after other hard-won rights. Those secured by the EU include parental leave, time off for family emergencies, equal pay for women and equal rights for part-time, fixed-term and agency workers. (Based upon an article by Frances O’Grady,general secretary of the TUC, in The Guardian)

During the referendum campaign, Vote Leave promised Britain’s workers that their rights from the EU would be safe after Brexit.  But in reality you can now see the outline, the drift of extreme right- wing Conservative thinking.  The idea is to make Britain attractive to the most rapacious and conscience-less companies in the world, people who view ex-EU Britain as ripe for exploitation and the worker expendable.

Those of us who support and honour Epicurus believe in looking after employees, in paying them a decent, living wage, and in  getting better productivity by offering decent holidays, sick pay and time off for emergencies.  It seems common sense to us, but not to the Mr. Gradgrinds of the world.  The Brexiteers  promised a better standard of living but, sotto voce, what they  meant was a  better life for themselves and their rich friends.  If the right-wing Tories have their way, Britain will regain the Victorian sweatshops made famous by Charles Dickens, and we will be back where we started.