UK opt-out a victory for who, exactly?

I see the UK has "won" the right to continue opting out of European legislation that would ban people from working more than 48 hours a week (see here). After the aforementioned poll in the US that saw Americans looking enviously on at the French lifestyle, you have to ask yourself why our government is clearly putting big business ahead of its population once again - the only bodies who really benefit from longer working hours are the companies themselves, because it fuels low pay and the ability to force your workforce to work unpaid beyond 48 hours if it suits you. More proof that Blair and his cronies are simply pawns of big business - looks like our democracy is as big a joke as the US's is.

It's interesting Europe is split down the middle on this - it's interesting to see that many of my favourite European countries (including Spain, Finland, Hungary and obviously France itself) are on the side of limiting worker hours too. Perhaps my dreams of emigration should be a little closer to home...