For the European Sunday Alliance (ESA) the EU Working Time directive (2003/88/EG) was and has been always a centre of advocacy. The protection of Sunday was a part of this directive in its early stages, but removed later on. On 26 April 2017 the European Commission has published an Interpretative Communication (click for link to PDF download) concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time. The Communication seeks to create and strengthen legal certainty, reflecting more than 50 court decisions on this matter of the European Court of Justice since 1993.

For the ESA it is interesting to recognise that the question of the Sunday is at least taken up in the Communication, which can be seen as a positive result of the advocacy work of the ESA in Brussels. In article 5, the Directive defines the right of an uninterrupted rest period of 35 hours. The Communication recalls that in the Directive from 1993 the Sunday was included in Art 5 – “The minimum rest period referred to in the first subparagraph shall in principle include Sunday” – but the European Court of Justice has annulled this provision because of a missing legal basis in the EU Treaties. The Interpretative Communication highlights that Sunday is still the normal day of rest in half of the EU Member States: Belgium (private sector), Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Greece, France, Croatia, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria, Portugal, Romania, and Slovakia.

Dear ESA members and supporters, Over the past few weeks we have been updating our contact information for your organisations. Some of you will have received an email. If you have not yet replied, could you kindly do so? If you have not received such an email, please let us know by emailing Frank-Dieter Fischbach (fdf@cec-kek.be) because that means our contact information for you is out of date.

On Thursday, 4 May, the European Parliament Interest Group will meet and discuss the legislative challenges to ensure a decent work-life balance for the ongoing process of digitalisation of the world of labour. The Interest Group was launched in 2015 by the European Sunday Alliance.

To register for the event, please click here.

The European Sunday Alliance welcomes its newest supporter the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI). The European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI) is a confederation of 38 trade union organisations from 21 European countries and 4 European trade union organisations, with a total of more than 5 million individual members. 2 further trade union organisations enjoy observer status. Founded in 1990, CESI advocates improved employment conditions for workers in Europe and a strong social dimension in the EU.

ESA Press Release 02/03/2017

Sunday’s special and an essential pillar of the European social model. However, the latest European Working Condition Survey indicates that more and more EU citizens have to work on this day. The European Sunday Alliance therefore launched today, on the European day of work-free Sunday, a call to action to show the need for a common EU-wide regulation.