(LUXEMBOURG) - An EU deal on working rules won a mixed welcome on Wednesday after European labour ministers broke years of deadlock over temporary agency workers rights and working time limits.

Efforts to revise EU rules on both issues had stalled as Europe struggled to agree on the deeply divisive question of how much flexibility employers should have, with Britain championing the cause of loose rules.

After marathon negotiations in Luxembourg, labour ministers reached early Wednesday morning a compromise, which will still have to go before the European Parliament for approval.

"This is a major step forward for European workers and it strengthens social dialogue," EU Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla said in a statement.

Under the revision of working time rules, workers can still opt out of an existing 48-hour limit on the working week in Europe if they choose to do so voluntarily, a practice that is particularly common in Britain.

If a worker opts out of the 48-hour week, they can work up to 60 or 65 hours a week under well laid-out conditions and after individual negotiations with their bosses.

The revision also introduced for the first time the definition of "inactive on-call periods" that would no longer be regarded as working time.

Europe's working time rules needed to be revised because an EU court had ruled that most member states were not respecting existing regulations.

Britain, which has blocked past negotiations over fears that flexibility could be lost, welcomed the new guidelines.

"This agreement means that people remain free to earn overtime and businesses can cope during busy times," said British Business Secretary John Hutton.

On temporary agency workers' rights, the ministers agreed that they should be granted equal treatment compared to regular workers in terms of pay, maternity leave and leave from day one.

This would not however be the case if a national agreement were concluded between management and unions on a longer "grace period," as is the case in Britain.

The use of so-called "temp" workers, who are estimated to number eight million across the 27-nation bloc, has boomed in recent years in Europe because they offer business more flexibility than workers on more permanent contracts.

A breakthrough on temporary agency workers' rights emerged last month after British unions and employers reached an agreement on a 12-month grace period, paving the way for London to lift its opposition to a wider EU deal.

While the European Trade Union Confederation welcomed the agreement on temporary workers, it panned the deal on working time.

"The agreement on a directive on temporary agency workers was positive and shows that the European Union can legislate improvements for workers, contrary to what some business lobbyists have been arguing," ETUC head John Monks said.

"But the agreement on working time is highly unsatisfactory and unacceptable to the ETUC, in respect of the new provisions on on-call work and the continuation of the UK opt-out," he added.

Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council, 9-10 June 2008

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