Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-05-16-Speech-2-156"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20000516.7.2-156"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, I must apologise for this appearing to be a British show at this moment. I assure you that it does change with the next speaker. I also would like to thank Mrs Smet, our rapporteur, for the excellent work that she has done throughout this entire process. With the support that she has received from Mr Rocard and from yourself, she has managed to make progress in face of the tensions between the high expectations of those whose lives will be affected by these decisions, some six million workers, and the difficulties and some intransigence presented by certain Member States. I speak as my group's representative on that parliamentary delegation and I know what I have seen.
This is a health and safety issue, as has been said, for both the workers concerned and for the public. While I recognise, like others, that junior doctors are not the only group affected, this issue has proved the most difficult. I have been deeply concerned at some of the arguments put forward by certain governments which have said that other aspects of health provision could be threatened if the reduction of working time for this group was brought in more quickly.
I cannot understand why it is less important for these workers to have reasonable working conditions and hours than any other group of health workers. I want to know whether junior doctors in some countries are some sort of superhuman who can do without adequate rest and who will not harm their own health or that of their patients in the process. The mother of one such trainee doctor said to me recently that she had been writing to the British Prime Minister and his wife, Tony and Cherie, to ask if they would be happy if their new baby were to be delivered by a tired, stressed-out doctor in a semi-drunken condition as that described by Mrs Lynne. I consider that would be a real health and safety issue requiring rapid action.
As we have all said, we must be clear that nine years has to be seen as an absolute limit, that anything more is an aberration. Any country not managing that should not be surprised if they find their staff moving elsewhere, to countries which have managed to implement more modern working conditions. The stepped approach which has been brought in must not be used to simply give a redefinition of working time such as removing meal breaks or time spent on call but not actually treating patients. That would simply be following the bad practices recently tried out by certain burger chains. However, at least some of those chains pay their part-time 17-year-old staff more per hour than some junior doctors get in overtime payment.
I would like to congratulate in advance those Member States that will meet their obligations under this directive for all sectors. The progress of others will be monitored very carefully. I acknowledge the Commission's role in this and hope that the Commissioner at that time will show the same commitment as that shown by Mrs Diamantopoulou.
Regretfully I am not sure that my group will be able to fully support the proposals overall despite the improvements that Mrs Smet and the Parliament team have been able to obtain in this very difficult situation."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples