Today I went to La Boulange for a cup of coffee and a “sticky bun”, and later on I drove to the supermarket to do some grocery shopping.
What’s the BFD about that, are you going to ask?
Well my friends, today is the 4th of July, America’s Independence Day and, God bless America, it is business as usual throughout the land.
Stores will remain open for at least half a day, and even though some employees will have to work on that day, they will do it willingly for the greatest satisfaction of all.
In France on the other hand, stores are denied the right to stay open on Sundays, evenings or holidays even though most of the public favors such measures.
While there is endemic unemployment, the French labor unions stubbornly refuse to endorse initiatives that could significantly reduce that problem.
They insist that Sunday must remain a privileged rest day to be spent with family.
They assert that the absence of parents on Sundays (with children left to themselves) would favor delinquency.
And finally, they argue that some bosses would not hesitate to force their employees to work against their will.
Well, what good is it to spend Sunday with family if you cannot pay the rent and put food on the table?
I suspect that French unions members have been genetically modified to become allergic to change. When their hear about it, it gives them a rash.
And just like Pavlov’s dogs they have been programmed to go on strike whenever they hear the word “reform”.
Today, the unemployment rate in France hovers around 10.5%, (one of the highest in the European Union) compared with 5.1% in Germany, 5.2% in Russia and 6.1% in the US.
Obviously there is something out of whack in the land of “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” but the unions stubbornly block any reform attempts.
They still long for the glory of the Popular Front, even though it lasted less than 18 months.
Nobody can deny the beneficial effects of the 1936 Matignon Accords.
Among other things it:
- enacted the law mandating 12 days (2 weeks) each year of paid annual leave for workers
- enacted the law limiting the working week to 40 hours (outside of overtime)
- created collective bargaining
- created the right to strike (that has been grossly abused)
- ensured that there would be no retaliation against strikers.
Those measures were very positive and nobody is asking to change them. But remaining mired in the past is not the way to improve the future.
For a long time, business operated under the dictatorship of company bosses. Today the country is hobbled by the Mafia-like grip of the labor movement on the government.
Neither one is good.
Due to the intransigence of the Labor Movement exists in France the very possibility of another May 1968.
Some people sometimes ask me “Would you ever go back to France?”
Only if they get a sensible form of government and a balanced budget.
In other words, it is highly unlikely!
Alain