Word: workweek
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
France's ruling conservatives are celebrating the mothballing of what they've long derided as the most destructive legacy of Socialist rule: the 35-hour workweek. Late Wednesday, a government text gutting the left's decade-old labor innovation was voted into law, provoking cheers from rightist politicians that France Inc. could now better fulfill one of President Nicolas Sarkozy's key campaign slogans: "work more to earn more...
...Bertrand's own wording belied a glaring incongruity in the law: while it allows employers to demand that workers spend more time at work, 35 hours remains the reference length of the French workweek. That's a smart move, since polls show the French are fond of the 35-hour week, and quashing it outright could prove unpopular...
...lets companies ignore the nominal 35-hour maximum and negotiate - or impose - longer hours for staffers. In doing so, bosses will no longer have to worry about compensating extra time with days off, as they were previously obliged to do to keep any worker's average workweek over the year within the 35-hour limit. What's more, overtime work will no longer come attached to a 25% bonus, but with one as low as 10%, to be determined through negotiation...
...impossible to do under current market conditions. Competition between factories is fierce, and their profit margins have shrunk. There's a glut of Chinese and Indian factories competing for Western clients, so if a factory doesn't pass audits, multinationals can just walk across the street. With the Chinese workweek capped at about 50 hours (including overtime), strict new labor laws and growing competition for workers, it's getting tougher to comply with the law, pay the minimum wage, make order deadlines - and earn a profit. Says Rosey Hurst, founder of Impactt, an ethical trade NGO based in London...
...Private affairs are not the only area where pundits have hammered Sarkozy for inconsistencies. During that January 8 press conference, for example, Sarkozy said 2008 would feature the death of France's 35-hour workweek. Less than 24 protest-punctuated hours later, he promptly did a volte-face and declared, "it's not the government's intention to abolish the legal working limit." At the same time, Sarkozy defended his controversial decision to use the corporate jet loaned to him by billionaire friend Vincent Bolloré during his Christmas vacation to Egypt with Bruni. Waving off what detractors called...