TUC say long working hours are stopping people from further education

European
TUC say long working hours are stopping people from further education
By Finfacts Team
Jun 2, 2005, 10:03

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The TUC have today released data which shows that long working hours are preventing people from persuing further qualifications.

Ahead of the European meeting on the reform of the Working Time Directive today, the UK’s Trade Union Congress has said that long working hours prevents workers from seeking further qualifications.

The data from the TUC poll released today shows that almost one in three workers - more than 8 million employees - say that long hours or stress have stopped them taking up some training or education in the last three years.

'Employer lobbyists claim that long hours working is essential to business success, but most experts agree that one of the biggest brakes on UK productivity is the poor skills of too many of the workforce.' said TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber.

”But this poll shows that long hours working is one of the main obstacles to improving skills. We run the risk of getting caught in a vicious circle of long hours working, low skills and low productivity. Long hours is not a sign of economic success but badly organised workplaces with tired inefficient staff.”

Following the analysis of this data, the TUC says that if Europe’s ministers agree to phase out the 48 hour working week, they will be giving British productivity a boost.

The poll shows that 29 per cent of the workforce agrees that 'My current job has such long hours or so stressful a workload that I do not have the time or energy to take up a course.' This rises to 35 per cent among full time workers.

The realese of these figures today follows a long campaign by the TUC to reduce the long working week. Earlier this week the TUC published a report entitled “The Working Time Directive Review: Slaying the Myths,” which brought to light the health and safety issues of working long hours, as well as employer negligence.

The data released today is part of a wider TUC poll on barriers to learning and the best ways of overcoming them, which will be released next week.