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Following up
on recent FW posts; the Financial Times writes that one of the reasons for the
aborted shorter work week in France was union concern that the government was
attempting to decrease individual social security accounts. In addition to verifying Tom Walker’s
observations, also note that the proposed minimum wage reschedule program was a
complicated six different time schedules. - Karen France Wrestles With The Working Week @ http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1031119095206&p=1012571727282 “But rather than acting as a stimulus to
job creation, as its proponents had hoped, the shorter working week has served
more as a disguised form of reducing social security contributions.
Even the previous government, led by Lionel Jospin, recognised that
changes were needed. In
particular, many small service businesses such as bakeries and garages, which
this year must begin implementing the shorter working week, face ruin as a
result of an overtime ceiling of just 130 hours. They
say they need to be able to allocate more overtime per employee rather than
take on the expense of hiring extra hands. The government is
proposing to raise the overtime limit to "around 180 hours" by
decree, which would cover the next 18 months. It would then be up to companies and their local union
branches to negotiate more permanent arrangements. For the government this has the advantage of devolving
responsibility to those directly affected while satisfying the commitment to
social dialogue. However, the Medef feels the government is afraid to assume its
responsibilities for fear of antagonising the unions. Business
people further believe negotiations on such a sensitive topic could open a
Pandora's box of other work-related issues that might poison labour-management
relations. In particular, business feels this would
complicate the task of simplifying employers' burdensome social security
contributions and impinge upon government plans to ease the cost of hiring
unskilled labour aged under 25 - the biggest category among the jobless.” |
