Can I be forced to work a 26 week reference period instead of 17weeks?

Question

Under the working time directive we can only work 48 hours a week in the transport industry after April 07. My company want us to average this out over 26 weeks instead of the usual17 which can happen with a collective agreement. I don't want the 26 wk. ref. as i'll have to do more hours when iam at work. If the majority vote for a 26 wk ref can they force me as well or can i opt out on my own

Answer 1

You can't have it both ways in a union. You want the increased pay, the job security, the benefits, etc.. but you want to complain about having to work extra. Unions remove much of the flexibility of individual negotiation (flexible schedules), motivation (why work harder than the guy next to you if you are going to both get the same pay), removal of dead weight (hard to fire a person that isn't performing).

As someone who's wife will be entering the nursing field this summer, I don't look forward to the collective agreements that will be imposed on her for the sake of the collective benefit. My father suffered under union regulations for a while and actually had a decrease in pay (overtime in the union generally means you are "stealing" time that could be given to another employee, even if you wanted to work extra time for additional pay).

If you opt out on your own, you will likely not be allowed to work for your current employer. I'm sure the union has negotiated some level of exclusive rights to supply the labor to the company and any outside hiring has strict limitations. In your case, this will probably be even more strict.