---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 23:34:54 -0500 From: "P. K. Murphy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: More on the French 35-Hour Week I received the following comments from a friend in France: PK Murphy ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Concerning your [that is, the Labor-L] posting, here are my comment. Post them to the list, if you think they are of the lesser interest: 1) The 35-hour law interests only the public and other large workplaces, that is to say a minority of the working class. As for the others, they work up to 60 or 65 hours a week, and the Jospin's government is unable to enforce the present 39-hour law, because of a lack of factory inspectors. And the lack of these latter is due to the budget constraints that are demanded by the Maastricht and Amsterdam treaties. 2) The spectacular confrontation between government and French Employers (the "CNPF") appears to be distorded. Jospin's government pretends to demand simultaneously that the working time be shorted inside, and that the firms be "competitive" ouside. Everybody knows it's impossible. Either the power secures the french social laws by the means of an economic and monetary independant policy, or it lets "globalization" take away the remaining labour rights. Aiming to the "Euro" and reducing the working time are not compatible. But "Euro" is for the first january 1999, and the 35-hour law is only for the year 2000! I'm afraid Jospin's concession to the Unions is to send them to sleep, in order to apply Maastricht and Amsterdam in time. After what, the irreversible will habe been done. And for the french right-wing socialists, such is the most important goal. Romain - end forwarded message -
