The aim of this Communication is to seek the views of the social partners at EU level, in accordance with Article 154(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), on the content of envisaged action at EU level to amend the Working Time Directive[1], and to ask whether they wish to enter into negotiation as provided by Article 155.

A number of factors directly relating to working time are covered by the Agreement between the social partners: length of shifts, weekly working time, break time during a shift, the amount and quality of sleep before a shift, day or night work, the starting time of a shift, working time regularity and predictability, the number of consecutive shifts and the way in which working time is organised.

In this context new questions emerge with regard to how to deal with the management of the workforce, and trade-offs are being negotiated by social partners at all levels with regard to employment relationships, lifelong learning possibilities, flexible working time arrangements and the organisation of transitional labour markets.

(1) Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993, concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time(3), which lays down minimum safety and health requirements for the organisation of working time, in respect of periods of daily rest, breaks, weekly rest, maximum weekly working time, annual leave and aspects of night work, shift work and patterns of work, has been significantly amended.

The dialogue between social partners at European level is also undertaken at sectoral level, and new initiatives have been launched, partly driven by the European Employment Strategy: the agreement on working time for mobile staff in the civil aviation sector which becomes the fourth agreement signed at sectoral level; the commitment of the social partners in the telecommunications sector to better access to vocational training, certification of training and telework; current negotiations in the commerce sector, which will be completed this year; the start of negotiations on certification of qualifications in the agricultural sector; ...[+++] the code recently adopted to modernise employment and work organisation to make the tanning sector more competitive.

Equally, the legislation on the reduction of working time in France has provided a new stimulus for company level collective bargaining, beyond working time.