FRANCE'S ruling party got into a terrible tangle yesterday over whether to abolish the controversial 35-hour work-week law, when two of its leaders contradicted each other.
On the tenth anniversary of the law's introduction, the head of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), president Nicolas Sarkozy's party, demanded its "definitive dismantlement".
Shortly afterwards, the party number two said the UMP had no intent
ion of increasing the number of hours employees had to work, but rather wanted to promote overtime.
The crossed wires were typical of the centre-right's muddled response to the law drawn up by a Socialist government and which many economists say has damaged French competitiveness.
Although Mr Sarkozy called the law an "economic catastrophe" this year, he appears reluctant to scrap it entirely for fear of angering unions and voters.
Many allies think he should be bolder. Looking to force the issue, Patrick Devedjian, the UMP secretary-general, yesterday said it was time to let each company establish its own working conditions directly with unions. "The UMP is forcefully requesting the definitive dismantlement of the 35-hour week," he said.
But shortly afterwards, Mr Devedjian's deputy, the former prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, said the UMP wanted no such thing. "It is obvious we don't want to touch the legal work week," he said, adding that Mr Devedjian had meant companies and unions should merely discuss overtime arrangements. "There, things are clear now," he said.
The Socialists voted in May 1998 to reduce the working week from 39 to 35 hours with no loss of pay.
Even some senior left-wingers have now questioned the wisdom of the reform, but French workers have grown used to their extra leisure time and Mr Sarkozy has tried to bypass the law by offering tax breaks to encourage overtime.
Elected last year on the mantra "work more to earn more", Mr Sarkozy has used this initiative as a reason not to tinker with the legal work week.
However, most firms have failed to boost overtime despite the incentives, and a recent survey showed the French enjoy an average of 37 days of paid holiday a year, against 27 in Germany, 26 in Britain and 14 in the United States.
Any move to sink the 35-hour week would certainly meet fierce resistance from trades unions,
while it is also not clear how French companies would react to the prospect of having to renegotiate working conditions a decade after tortuous talks to ease in the 35-hour week.
The full article contains 429 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
