Open Letter: Keep the Working Time Directive

Sign the open letter to the Prime Minister

Workers' rights are being stripped away.

Add your name to take a stand against the government's plans. 

Dear Boris Johnson,


I was deeply concerned to learn you and your government are planning to cut workplace protections.
Under EU standards, known as the “working time directive”, no British worker can be forced to work more than 48-hours in a working week. Now, I hear the government wants to use Brexit to strip away these standards.

At a time when so many people are losing their jobs, this is a disgrace. Low-pay workers could be forced to work dangerously long hours just to make ends meet or to keep their jobs.

Many warned leaving the EU would result in a “bonfire of regulations”. You promised rights would not be lost. You argued Brexit was an opportunity to raise British standards. But at the first opportunity, in the midst of an economic crisis, your government jumps at the chance to strip away our rights. Actions speak louder than words: this shows what Brexit was really about.

Scrapping work hour limits is just one in a package of deregulation measures that have been discussed, from cutting holiday pay entitlements to loosening rules requiring breaks at work. Far from helping those left behind to level up, your government is acting in the interest of big businesses, rather than British taxpayers.

Workers’ rights are being ripped up. Our rights, and the rights of all British people, are at risk unless you commit to an equivalence on the working time directive. Therefore, we the undersigned ask you to guarantee that workers’ rights, currently enshrined in EU law, will never be removed by your government.

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