"Britain has a flexible labour
market"

The term "flexible labour" is used by government
and business (eg CBI, Institute of Directors, etc )
to label Britain's relative lack of work restrictions (compared
to other European countries).

Media coverage often suggests that "flexibility"
means greater choice for workers. Here lies the fallacy. Employers
may expect workers to be "flexible" enough to work
long hours for months on end, regardless of the well-documented
correlation between long hours and ill health. But workers
apparently shouldn't expect employers to be "flexible"
enough to put health/safety before profit.

Europe's Working Time Directive: an attack on
flexible labour?

"British Industrial leaders insist the right to choose
working hours is a key part of a flexible economy". (Guardian,
11/5/05).

The media reported that the UK government blocked European
plans to remove working-hours rights.

Here's a different version: The UK government blocked Europe's
attempts to protect workers from extended periods of
long working hours (since there's overwhelming evidence that
it increases health/safety risks). Europe seeks to impose
a maximum 48-hour working week taken as an average over
a period of 12 months. That last bit is omitted by most
UK media reports. (The standard period of measurement is 4
months. The extension to 12 months is a compromise with the
UK proposed by Europe, but still blocked by the UK).

Under Europe's plans, a person could work over 48 hours for
several weeks (or months) and still fall below the 48-hour
average (over 12 months). But this isn't "flexible"
enough for UK industrial leaders. No, they want the "flexibility"
of having people work over 48 hours per week for months on
end, regardless of health/safety risks.

According to the Labour force survey (Autumn 2004, quoted
by TUC): 67% of those who usually
work more than 48 hours say that they want to work fewer hours.
 61% of long hours workers do not receive any overtime
pay.
 Of the 39% who are paid overtime, 69% say that they
want to work fewer hours even if this meant less pay.