Download article in original language : FR9803197NFR.DOC
In March 1998, the bill to reduce the statutory working week from 39 to 35 hours is undergoing its second reading in France's National Assembly. The CNPF employers' organisation is demanding that its implementation be delayed by two years.
The Government's bill to reduce the statutory working week from 39 to 35 hours (FR9712186N) was approved at its first reading by the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale), and then completely rewritten by the Senate before returning to the National Assembly on the 24 March 1998. The National Assembly should now pass the bill - for the most part - in its first unamended form.
Ernest-Antoine Seillières, the president of the National Council of French Employers (Conseil national du patronat français, CNPF), who sees the coming adoption of the law reducing the working week as inevitable, has written to the Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, requesting a meeting - the first between a leader of the employers' organisation and the Prime Minister since the failure of the tripartite conference on employment on 10 October 1997 (FR9710174N).
In his lengthy letter, Mr Seillières reiterated the employers' hostility towards the bill and demanded that it be substantially reworked and that the introduction of the 35-hour week in companies with a workforce of more than 20 be delayed by an extra two years - the bill provides for the switch to the 35-hour week in companies employing more than 20 workers on 1 January 2000, and in 2002 for smaller companies. The CNPF leader would also particularly like to see recognition of the concept of annualised working time and clarification of the overtime compensation system.
The CGT (Confédération générale du travail) trade union confederation has declared its opposition to these suggestions. It considers that "the CNPF rejects the law and is banking on the fact that, in 2002, there will have been a change in the parliamentary majority." The CFTC (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens) does not want to see an across-the-board annualisation of working time. The CFE-CGC (Confédération française de l'encadrement - Confédération générale des cadres) did not voice any hostility towards delaying the implementation of the law: "We would go for a two-year extension if a final deadline is retained and if employers take obvious and concrete measures towards reopening negotiations".