France in Mourning...

[Flash Walken]

The 35-hour French work week is dead.

Article

French workers were in mourning yesterday for their cherished but controversial 35-hour week, after Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right party pushed through an employment reform that effectively kills off one of the socialist era's defining policies.

The law, due to come into effect as early as August, will allow companies to decide how many hours and how much overtime their employees clock up every week. Instead of the current maximum of 218 days a year, white-collar workers could be expected to work as many as 235 days.

Sarkozy, who was elected last year with the campaign slogan "work more to earn more", regards the 35-hour week as a major drag on the French economy, arguing that those who want to work more should not be stopped from doing so.

[OilersBaby]

35 hours is crazy. My husband works about 50 normally and when he's in trial can be as high as 65. I work the usual 40 but can go as high as 50 if Im super busy.

[Dion]

This is a good deal for workers that want to worker longer hours. It also gives companies the flexability to schedule workers more work hours if need be.

The downside of this will result in fewer job openings. Instead of a company having to hire another worker to fill in the extra hours they can extend the hours of thier present workers.

Not sure why the unions are grumbling here. They have the power to negotaite working conditions for thier employees. It will be the non unionised employees that might be hurt with this new law.

If given the choice in Canada i'm sure there would be a lot of workers who would take the 35 hour work week so they can have more time with thier families.

[mykalberta]

I find it more out of whack that the average salary for white collar is 72000/year

[missdpuck]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

I find it more out of whack that the average salary for white collar is 72000/year

It is pretty funny. I know plenty of people who have decent primary jobs but HAVE to work a second job . And this situation is pretty recent for most of them

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

I find it more out of whack that the average salary for white collar is 72000/year

Not sure I get what you mean?

[Dion]

Originally Posted by missdpuck

It is pretty funny. I know plenty of people who have decent primary jobs but HAVE to work a second job . And this situation is pretty recent for most of them

Why the second job?

Is it because of the large mortgage they have?

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Dion

This is a good deal for workers that want to worker longer hours. It also gives companies the flexability to schedule workers more work hours if need be.

The downside of this will result in fewer job openings. Instead of a company having to hire another worker to fill in the extra hours they can extend the hours of thier present workers.

Not sure why the unions are grumbling here. They have the power to negotaite working conditions for thier employees. It will be the non unionised employees that might be hurt with this new law.

If given the choice in Canada i'm sure there would be a lot of workers who would take the 35 hour work week so they can have more time with thier families.

I believe less than 10% of France's labour is unionized.

[missdpuck]

Originally Posted by Dion

Why the second job?

Is it because of the large mortgage they have?

It could be . As you might know from previous posts(?) I work at the post office in Fl. For years..I mean years...it was common for us to work 65-70 hrs a week if we chose.. and many did chose to do so even though it's a physical job and can be exhausting. We thought it would never end. Now,in the past year especially,it is not unusual for management to ask for volunteers to go home (using your own vacation time of course) because there is not enough work . Mail volume has gone down drastically. We have basically the same number of employees. But the 2 job scenario is not unique to the postal workers..it's kinda all going downhill. I know an airline pilot who drives a cab...pretty wild huh. I dont know the reason for it all...yeah prices are up alot for everything though..

[yyc]

Originally Posted by OilersBaby

35 hours is crazy. My husband works about 50 normally and when he's in trial can be as high as 65. I work the usual 40 but can go as high as 50 if Im super busy.

50 hours a week for me is typical but i have weeks that go as high as 80 hours +. But im a truck driver so im not sure if sitting on your behind is really work, and 35 hours is crazy..... what do they do with the spare time? talk to the wife?

[missdpuck]

Originally Posted by yyc

50 hours a week for me is typical but i have weeks that go as high as 80 hours +. But im a truck driver so im not sure if sitting on your behind is really work, and 35 hours is crazy..... what do they do with the spare time? talk to the wife?

Ha! I think that's why my boss has a 2nd job at Wal-Mart...going home is more stressful than being at work..

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by yyc

50 hours a week for me is typical but i have weeks that go as high as 80 hours +. But im a truck driver so im not sure if sitting on your behind is really work, and 35 hours is crazy..... what do they do with the spare time? talk to the wife?

You're a trucker and you can log 80+ hours in a week? Isn't that dangerous? Nothing worse than a sleepy driver behind the wheel of a massive rig.

[LIP MAN]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

I find it more out of whack that the average salary for white collar is 72000/year

Cost of living is quite high there, so it seems very out of whack.

[yyc]

Originally Posted by Igottago

You're a trucker and you can log 80+ hours in a week? Isn't that dangerous? Nothing worse than a sleepy driver behind the wheel of a massive rig.

yeah, 14 hours a day is legal limit but you cant drive 14 hours straight by law, you have to stop every 3 hours and do a check on your truck. but the scary thing is most truckers go well beyond the 14 hours a day. i work in the city now so at 12 hours i call it a day..

edit: you cant drive {by law}80 hours straight,you "have" to take days off to rest in between.

[Vulcan]

I see the lose of the 35hr week as kind of a step back. We have computers and other technological work saving devices and yet the work week has probably gone up since the 60s. It must be a flaw in our human make up that wants us to labor our lives away or maybe just greed for that extra HDTV that we'll be too busy to watch anyways.

[Ozy_Flame]

Thank god I work in the public sector. 35 hours per week and nothing more is a GOD SEND.

[HOZ]

Here is an nice read about the 35 hour work week and it's effect on unemployment. It is written in 2003.

The last 2 paragraphs have an interesting tid bit



Polls also show that many workers would prefer more work hours than they have now, especially younger workers. Last year, 120,000 workers in South Korea went on strike against proposed legislation to cut workweeks there. And this was in a country where that standard workweek includes a half-day on Saturday.
Part of the reason for this is that most people know and accept that long hours and hard work are necessary for a high standard of living. Studies have shown that the wealthy work far more than other people. According to U.S. Trust Co., 71 percent of the affluent work more than 40 hours per week, and 31 percent work more than 50 hours.

Unemployment and the 35 hour work week

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by LIP MAN

Cost of living is quite high there, so it seems very out of whack.

Cost of living is high in Paris. Outside of the capital its actually surprisingly reasonable.

[missdpuck]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

I see the lose of the 35hr week as kind of a step back. We have computers and other technological work saving devices and yet the work week has probably gone up since the 60s. It must be a flaw in our human make up that wants us to labor our lives away or maybe just greed for that extra HDTV that we'll be too busy to watch anyways.

Agree. There are stats about the lengthening work week and if I find that I'll do a link. As for greed..it's always cracked me up that,say, some hockey player who already makes 8 mill a yr or whatever will uproot his family and play for a team he doesnt really like and live somewhere he doesnt want to live just because they are going to give him another 250k a yr than the other team . How much money does someone need?? Ego? Whoever dies with the most toys wins???

[Rathji]

I am a student and only work in the summer moving buildings, and sometimes we put in 90+ hours a week since we work 8+ hours, take a nap and then the actual moving of the buildings happen at night, then we sleep a couple hours till it is light and work putting the building down.