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TUC: Long work culture is back

07 Jun 2008

TUC: Long work culture is back The government is being urged to protect millions of people working excessively long weeks in the UK, it has emerged.

A new Trades Union Congress (TUC) report – The Return of the Long Hours Culture – revealed that 3.3 million people are working more than 48 hours a week, an increase of 180,000 over the past year.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber is calling on Gordon Brown's government to side with the country's 25 million workers when it meets European ministers next week and "take action to end excessive working time".

He added that despite "slow but steady" progress over the past decade the long hours culture was creeping back into the workplace.

"Employees across the UK already work the longest hours in western Europe and the recent increase will mean lower productivity, more stress and less time to have a life outside the office with friends and family," he concluded.

Students working full-time as temps during the summer could be interested to hear the government might act next week to prevent long working hours.

According to the figures, in 2008 nearly one out of every five male employees work more than 48 hours a week compared to one out of every 20 females.

Meanwhile, recent research by Professor Dieter Zapf and a team of psychologists at Frankfurt University found putting on a happy face at work led to depression.

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