Jospin's nonsensical 35-hour week in France has now been scrapped -- only a few months after small employers were forced to adopt it.
The only sector of the French economy which would have achieved Jospin's aim -- that of creating more jobs -- was government employment. But this, of course, was excluded from the legislation! Otherwise, the French government would have become bankrupt even more quickly than they were already in danger of. Last year, when the 35-hour week was imposed on large employers, they were able to finesse their way around the problems because they had enough staff to shuffle about -- but the legilsation was already endangering further investment plans. This year, the small employers were unable to use the same tricks because they have no surplus staff. Already, many more small French companies than usual were making plans to migrate across the Channel to England. That all this was likely was obvious to any half-way sensible commentator (such as your goodself on FW about three years ago). Keith Hudson Excerpt from The Guardian of today: <<<< FRENCH END WORKING HOURS REVOLUTION Paul Webster (in Paris) The French rightwing government has sounded the death knell for the 35-hour week, the most daring social experiment of Lionel Jospin's Socialist Cabinet. In a rushed-through decree, the Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, has authorised a sharp increase in overtime, which is interpreted as an implicit restoration of the 39-hour week instituted in 1981. The end of the reduced working week has been inevitable since the resounding defeat at the general election of its author, the former labour minister Martine Aubry, now mayor of Lille, whose working class electorate had been impoverished by enforced overtime restrictions. The employers' federation, Medef, campaigned against it on the grounds that that it had undermined profits and made French labour too expensive. . . . . >>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- Keith Hudson,6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England Tel:01225 312622/444881; Fax:01225 447727; E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________
