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PARIS (Reuters) - The French parliament adopted government reforms on
Tuesday that will allow employees to work longer hours, despite fierce
opposition by trade unions who say it spells the end of the 35-hour working
week.
The National Assembly, or lower house, approved changes to the law on the
working week by 350 votes to 135 in a second reading, clearing the final
hurdle to the conservative government's moves to make the rules more
flexible.
The upper house had already approved the reforms of the 1998 law, which
was introduced by a Socialist-led government to try to reduce unemployment
but is regarded by President Jacques Chirac as an obstacle to making French
firms more competitive.
The changes will allow workers to increase overtime and work up to 48
hours a week if they want -- the maximum allowed by the European Union.
Labor unions and the Socialist opposition have bitterly opposed the
changes and brought several hundred thousand people out onto the streets in
recent weeks in protest.
Labor Relations Minister Gerard Larcher hailed the reform as a "pragmatic
and realistic" move, but Socialist deputies dismissed it as a backward step.
"This text in fact just shows the blind refusal of a ruling party that is
heading for trouble and toughening its line on ideological principles that
date from another century and penalize jobs and workers," Socialist Alain
Vidalies said.
Government under pressure
The government has pressed on with its plans despite the widespread
protests, even though it fears French voters could show their discontent by
voting against the European Union's new constitution in a referendum on May
29.
Recent opinion polls suggest the "No" vote has taken the lead in the EU
constitution campaign following a surge in anti-government protests. The
ruling conservatives are also smarting after losing regional and European
elections last year.
The Socialists cut the working week from 39 hours in 1998 to try to
reduce high unemployment. But employers' groups, the main driver behind the
reform, complained that without an equivalent cut in pay, companies simply
became less competitive.
The government says the increased flexibility will be good for companies,
pay packets, jobs and the economy.
Some French workers want to work longer to increase their pay and, like
some workers in Germany, agreed last year to work longer hours in an effort
to save their jobs.
But the trade unions say workers will be forced to work longer hours for
no extra pay and that the changes will in effect dismantle the 35-hour
working week.
Labor organizations say France's unemployment rate of more than 10
percent, much higher than the average in the euro zone, gives employers the
chance to increase hours with no extra pay.
An opinion poll last month showed 56 percent of French workers, and 43
percent of French people in general, opposed the government plans to relax
the rules on the working week.
The poll showed 36 percent of workers and 46 percent of French people in
general were in favor of the proposed changes. 
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