France to press on with hours reform

PARIS - France's conservative government will proceed with reforms to lengthen the 35-hour work week in spite of protests by hundreds of thousands of workers, Budget Minister Jean-Francois Cope said on Sunday.

The government says its reform bill will increase purchasing power and, therefore, consumption. This would hopefully help cut unemployment, now close to 10 per cent.

"But no. In what name would one withdraw a bill that grants an additional freedom?" Cope said when asked by French Radio J whether the government would retract the bill.

"We must be resolutely engaged towards the future," said Cope, also the spokesman for the government.

Police said about 300,000 workers took to the streets throughout France on Saturday to defend their prized 35-hour work rule. The unions' estimates were double the figure.

The reforms will allow private sector staff to increase overtime and work up to 48 hours a week, the maximum allowed under European Union law. But managers must first agree the changes with unions.

Cope said government would continue discussions over the 35-hour rule as well as on labour laws, pensions and schools -- the other causes in the marches on Saturday.

"Our responsibility as a government is to hear each subject one after the other and to bring solutions," Cope said.

Four of France's five major unions called the protests against the reforms, saying they would sound the death knell of the 35-hour week and result in longer hours without extra pay.

The opposition Socialist party, which introduced the 35-hour week in 1998 in its effort to reduce joblessness, also joined the protests and called on Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin to abandon his reform and re-open negotiations with the unions.

French Industry Minister Patrick Devedjian said the Socialist party was playing with fire when it supported the protests as both parties' support for the EU constitution could be undermined.

He repeated government concerns that the mounting dissatisfaction among French voters could block the EU landmark treaty when a referendum is held before summer if disgruntled voters chose to punish the government over the reforms.

"It is a worry that there is a clumping of grievances, that people will not answer the question on the constitution and so there will be block of "no" votes in the referendum," Devedjian told radio France Inter.

The latest poll shows a quarter of French voters would back the treaty to help ensure the smooth functioning of the bloc.

Nearly half are yet to decide how to vote, 20 per cent would reject it and 9 per cent would abstain, according to the survey in French Sunday newspaper Journal du Dimanche.

This compares with a previous poll in December by newspaper Le Figaro that showed 69 per cent backing the constitution.

- REUTERS