Word: workweek
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...posts in its first five years; similar numbers were provided by independent economists and organizations monitoring labor activity. However, conservatives have consistently accused the law of shackling French businesses and undermining economic growth. They've also noted that state subsidies softening the impact of the reduced workweek on businesses have cost taxpayers billions. The new legislation, its backers say, will leave companies freer to demand more work from staffers when needed, and allow employees to heed Sarkozy's appeal to help lift the economy - and their own slumping purchasing power - by working more...
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...