On May 1st, the tradition and calm will be called into question by the National Assembly. This prospect worries the leaders of the eight major trade union federations (CGT, CFDT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, Unsa, FSU, and Solidaires) who have decided to take a stand by sending a joint letter to the Prime Minister.
Together, they ask him not to convene the mixed joint committee scheduled for Tuesday to amend the Labour Code. The government’s goal is to allow employees of certain businesses (including bakers and florists) to work on May 1st, where the law currently prohibits it.
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Upon receiving the letter, Sébastien Lecornu made it clear that he did not intend to “force through” and sought to reassure the trade unions. “The mixed joint committee has not yet been convened. It is therefore necessary to take the time needed to work towards an effective and acceptable solution,” Matignon stated. On his side, the Minister of Labor Jean-Pierre Farandou must convene the unions on Monday evening at 6 pm to “work with them on a very precise perimeter of businesses concerned.”
However, the decree being prepared for promulgation by the government, which could be applied as early as May 1st, leaves no room for doubt. It does indeed provide for the opening of “major industrial chains” of bakery and pastry, “ice cream and chocolate chains, butchers, delicatessens, tripe sellers, cheese-creameries, fishmongers, stores selling fruits and vegetables including specialized supermarkets, florists, garden centers, and seedlings, cinemas, museums, exhibition halls, venues for performances and cultural centers.”
“Respect social democracy”
“We hear about the small local baker and florist, but they can already be open on May 1st. In reality, this law is made to benefit the major chains: Interflora, Carrefour, Fnac, Marie Blachère,” the General Secretary of CGT Sophie Binet fumed a few days ago. In their joint letter, the unions estimate that the bill defended by the “central block”, the right and the extreme right, will “extend the derogation for opening” on May 1st “to many professional sectors”, but also “to major companies, at the expense of employees and small independent local businesses.”
“Mr. Prime Minister, we cannot reform a text of social history and collective achievements as abruptly as this,” write the union leaders, including Sophie Binet (CGT), Marilyse Léon (CFDT), and Frédéric Souillot (FO). “We therefore ask you not to convene this mixed joint committee in order to respect social democracy and political democracy.”
May 1st is highly symbolic, and even unique in the French calendar. Touching this day is stirring up old quarrels and attacking a totem of the workers’ movement, now defended by the left. The origins of May 1st are diffuse. Some highlight the year 1886, during which a massive strike broke out in Chicago, in front of the Mac Cormick factories, to defend the eight-hour workday. Others refer to 1891, when a demonstration in Fourmies (Nord) turned into a tragedy and the army shot at the workers, resulting in nine deaths.
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