La réduction du temps de travail : questions en supsens

The Reduction of Working Time : Outstanding Questions
When it passed a first law of “orientation and incitement” in June 1998, the French Government also announced its intention to adopt a second one before the end of 1999, to deal with issues which remained outstanding.
According to Dominique Taddéi, this second law should address five major challenges :
– the first concerns overtime, which in France was the equivalent of 230,000 full time jobs in 1997. Overtime should be kept as it is for a while, regardless of the reduction to a 35-hour week, and should then be replaced by compensatory time off instead of remuneration in money;
– the second is to maintain monthly income at the minimum wage level (SMIC) by increasing hourly pay with the help of the State;
– the third challenge will be the actual reduction of working time to the legal 35 hours, to assure that the re-structuring assistance provided by the state is given only in proportion to the amount of time that is actually reduced;
– the fourth challenge concerns respect for the new time limits. This will require, according to the author, a reinforcement of union power, and even more likely, of the power of work inspectors;
– finally, assurance should be provided that part-time work, which today is often restricted, also becomes a matter of flexible choice.