One in five North-East employees are working more than the European 48 hours-a-week limit, many of them because they fear they have no choice, trade union leaders claimed last night.

The figures were published by the TUC as part of a fresh attack on the UK Government, the only one in Europe to allow workers to "opt out" of the continent-wide 48-hour working week maximum.

The EU is due to consider scrapping the opt-out clause later this year, and the TUC yesterday launched an "About Time" campaign, encouraging people to ring a hotline to tell of their long-hours horror stories.

But regional union leaders warned last night that the North-East could be one of the hardest areas to bring about an end of the long hours culture.

They claimed many people fear they could lose their jobs if they refuse to opt out - even though it is supposedly a matter of individual choice.

Employer groups are lobbying to keep the opt-out from the European Working Time Directive and Whitehall sources have indicated the Government will fight any proposed changes from Europe.

On the eve of the TUC annual congress, this year in Brighton, general secretary Brendan Barber claimed some 4,482,863 workers nationally were now working more than 48 hours a week.

Regionally, 142,573 people - 20pc - in the North -East top 48 hours a week, with 422,360 doing the same in the North-West, according to the Labour Force Survey.

Sixty-seven per cent of those people in the North-East want to work fewer hours, according to the figures, and 11,976 claimed they were given no choice but to sign the "opt out" papers.

The TUC estimates a further 89,821 people in the North-East are illegally working more than 48 hours a week - even though they have not signed the opt-out papers.

In the North-West, 69.7pc of the 422,360 working more than 48 hours a week would like to work fewer hours, with 35,478 given no choice but to "opt out". Around 266,087 work more than 48 hours a week in the North-West even though they have not opted out.

Another poll published yesterday, this time from the Public and Commercial Services Union, claimed that 15pc of North workers felt pressurised to work extra hours "all the time" - the highest percentage for any region in the country.

Brendan Barber said: "More people work longer than 48 hours a week than before the working time regulations were introduced.

"The UK is the only country that allows everyone to work to opt out of the 48-hour limit. The result is that too many employers force staff to opt out.

"Overall, one in four who have signed an opt out say they were not given a choice."

He pointed to other research showing that growing numbers of workers were taking time off because of stress, which unions blamed on the long hours culture.

And regional secretary for the TUC, Kevin Rowan, said: "In the North-East, the problem lies mainly in manufacturing and in urban areas such as Newcastle, Middlesborough and Sunderland.

"There is a tradition of working long hours which is hard to break and because the chance to move on to new jobs is relatively low in some employment fields, people feel they have to work longer hours to get on.

"As well as that, we have low-paid jobs where people feel they have to do over-time, even if they don't want to, just to be able to afford things like a summer holiday. People aren't doing it through choice."

Wansbeck Labour MP Denis Murphy backed calls for the opt-out to be removed.

He said: "I see no reason why the UK continues to be out of step with the rest of Europe. It puts people working in this country at a disadvantage to the rest of Europe."

But the Government took issue with the TUC's findings and argues that people should be allowed to drop out of the directive and work overtime if they wished.

The Department of Trade and Industry said the proportion of people working more than 48 hours a week had fallen from 23.5pc in 1997 to 20.4pc now. And CBI Director General, Digby Jones, responded: "I find the TUC's figures hard to believe. DTI research has found little evidence that employers are abusing the working time rules and tribunals have received few complaints. Interestingly, the number of people working over 48 hours a week has actually fallen every year since 1999.

"Removing the opt-out to the working time directive would stop thousands of people working overtime and remove a vital flexibility for employers. What gives the TUC the right to interfere with the freedom of choice of the individual in the vastly different world of work of the 21st century?

"The trade unions represent 63pc of public sector workers and only 19pc in the private sector."

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