04 February 2000
Public services in France faced severe disruption this week as the compulsory 35-hour working week became reality.
February 1 was the due date for the introduction of the much-debated 'loi Aubry' – authored by health and social security minister Martine Aubry – which imposed the 35-hour week on most private and many public enterprises.
It was greeted by a wave of protest from employees worried that the Act would mean a deterioration in their job conditions.
The postal service was among the earliest to be hit, and although education minister Claude Allègre went on television at the weekend to reassure teachers that their employment terms would be protected, some teaching unions seized the opportunity to press other claims.
Payment of health benefits was thrown into chaos later in the week by strikes at social security offices. Hospitals were also threatened with action against possible cuts in services, although medical personnel are excluded from the Aubry law's provisions.
In public transport there were complications: there were protests across France from factions both in favour of the law and opposing it. Brest, Angers, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Saint-Etienne were among towns to suffer disruption.
David Meilton in Paris
PFfeb2000
