Would this be a good time to bring up the fact that LAME's/AME's/A&P's in most parts of the world don't have duty time restrictions, late shift/early shift restrictions, are expected to work the same day that they arrive at work even if travelling through multiple timezones (12 timezones for me in fact), and yet nobody seems to be interested in commissioning a study on the affects of fatigue on maintenance crew and the affect that it poses to airline safety or aviation safety as a whole. Interesting.
If anybody does know of some such study for engineering staff, please PM me with details, I would be very interested to know.
Yes it is extremely important to ensure that aircrew are well rested for their duty day, but perhaps think about the mechanic who works 11 hour shifts on the ramp, 6 days a week, on a 7 month contract for one of the larger aviation companies in the world. I sure needed a rest after that one! And no, that type of contract is not unusual.
Perhaps after the pilots in the EU get their lot sorted, and I hope you do, there will be some sort of flowdown affect. I doubt it though, primarily due to the fact that most aviation companies see maintenance as an expense that they need to try to minimise, instead of a tool that can be used to minimise downtime.
I'll now get down off my soapbox. Duty periods for engineering staff is a pet hate of mine!! You might have been able to tell.