Ministers including Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are plotting to scrap the working time directive, according to numerous media reports. This is a crucial piece of EU law that protects working people – and which working people were promised would still apply after Brexit.

If Johnson and Gove succeed, 7 million workers could lose their guaranteed legal right to paid holidays. That includes nearly 5 million women and many workers on part-time and zero-hours contracts.

Stripped of the laws that restrain them, bad bosses could force their staff to work excessive hours, far above the current limit of 48 hours a week. Lunch and rest breaks would be under threat too, as would health and safety protections for night workers... 

[T]he Ceta deal between the EU and Canada [...] has [been] called... “the perfect starting point” for trade talks. But Ceta puts the rights of corporations and foreign investors ahead of those of working people...

Britain’s workers need a deal that not only safeguards the rights we already enjoy, but also in the long run, keeps UK workers’ rights apace with their equivalent in Europe...