Working time in the countries of the European Union (E.U.) is highly regulated by collective bargaining. In most Western European nations, there are long-established limits to daily and weekly hours of work, and the E.U. Working Time Directive of 1 993 generalized these. In 2004, the regulations were extended to the new E.U. member states, mainly in Central and Eastern Europe, but observers question whether they will be as effective as in the West. Moreover, with trade unions currently on the defensive, working time is becoming an increasingly contentious issue in European industrial relations.
