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FRANCE'S 35-HOUR WORK WEEK CREATES JOBS
(This article is from the Oct. 16-31, 1999 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)
By Dave McKee, Toronto
REMEMBER THOSE INCREDIBLE public sector strikes in France in December of 1995? That action dramatically increased pressure on the government to pursue job creation through a legislated reduction in work time. The right-wing government of the day was forced to offer financial incentives to employers for shorter hours and new hiring.
Almost four years later, with continued militancy and a new government which sees shorter work hours as central to reducing unemployment, the effort is beginning to gain momentum.
In May 1998, France's Socialist-led coalition government, which includes the Communist and Green parties, passed the first "35-hour law." Through legislation and financial incentives, that law initiated negotiations between employers and workers aimed at achieving an average 35-hour work week, which will become the national standard by the year 2000.
By the end of August 1999, a mere fifteen months later, nearly 15,000 workplace agreements over the shorter work week had been signed, resulting in almost 120,000 jobs. Of these, 85% were new jobs created, and the remainder were planned layoffs that were avoided. Over 60,000 of these jobs were created between April and August; by comparison, Canadian figures for the same period were a pathetic 9,000 jobs created. French government estimates for job creation by next year, resulting from the 35-hour law, range from 250,000 to 450,000.
A second law, currently being developed, will deal with overtime work. This proposed law will limit annual overtime to a maximum of 130 hours, per worker, in excess of 35 hours per week. Employers will face a weekly overtime premium of 25%.
While the early results are impressive, the government's approach to shortening the work week has not been without opposition and compromise. A French-Italian employers' association has emerged and is mobilizing against the legislation. The group recently held a demonstration in Paris which attracted 20,000 people, and is threatening to reduce investment and move plants outside the country. Some businesses have adopted a hardline stance in negotiations, extracting far-reaching concessions on work flexibility which allow them to implement the 35-hour work week without any new hiring.
On the left, some unions and even some members of the governing coalition are critical that the legislation is based on a "go-slow" approach and makes too many concessions to employers. During negotiations at one plant with a workforce of 30,000, workers became so frustrated at making sacrifices in the areas of wage moderation and work flexibility that the communist-backed CGT union called a strike against the 35-hour deal.
Another sector that critically supports the legislation is the movement of the unemployed, whose main demands are for increases in social benefits. The Communist and Green parties are supportive of these demands. But the Socialists have resisted taking a more comprehensive approach to social policy, concentrating narrowly on the 35-hour legislation.
The process of transition will continue into the next millennium, so the durability of the 35-hour project remains to be seen. In any case, French workers are seizing this tremendous opportunity to revitalize the left - through parliamentary and extra-parliamentary action - and to win a great social advance.
(Author's note: Much of the information in this article was taken from "betterTIMES," the newsletter of the Shorter Work Time Network of Canada, tel. 416-392-1658)
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