Possumblog

Not in the clamor of the crowded street, not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

REDIRECT ALERT! (Scroll down past this mess if you're trying to read an archived post. Thanks. No, really, thanks.)

Due to my inability to control my temper and complacently accept continued silliness with not-quite-as-reliable-as-it-ought-to-be Blogger/Blogspot, your beloved Possumblog will now waddle across the Information Dirt Road and park its prehensile tail at http://possumblog.mu.nu.

This site will remain in place as a backup in case Munuvia gets hit by a bus or something, but I don't think they have as much trouble with this as some places do. ::cough::blogspot::cough:: So click here and adjust your links. I apologize for the inconvenience, but it's one of those things.

Thursday, December 09, 2004

French premier details workweek plan

By LAURENCE FROST
The Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — After months of hesitation, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin outlined plans Thursday to reform the 35-hour workweek, cherished by the country's trade unions and hated by employers.

In a televised address, Raffarin said companies will be allowed to negotiate their own deals with staff on overtime — within the EU's 48-hour workweek limit.

"In the future it will be possible to choose in this way the number of additional hours, pay and conditions," the prime minister said.

The 35-hour workweek was introduced under the last Socialist-led government, which claimed it would boost employment by forcing companies to hire more staff.

But it failed spectacularly to produce that effect, and the government is now pinning its hopes on more flexibility in working time to bring down unemployment, currently at 10 percent. [...]

Imagine that. A plan devised by French socialist technocrats that ignored market-based realities, and it failed spectacularly.

Why, it just boggles the mind.

posted by Terry at 1:40:00 PM

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