Bakers, florists... The Senate wants to lift the ban on May 1st working for employees in certain professions

The Senate will examine a bill Thursday morning to allow bakers and florists, in particular, to have their employees work on May 1st, an initiative vilified by unions and the left. Is this a common-sense law or a full-blown attack on workers' rights ? The debate promises to be heated, starting at 10:30 a.m. in the chamber of the Luxembourg Palace. The discussion began at the end of April, when some bakers took to the streets, denouncing the unprecedented inspections carried out in recent years by the Labor Inspectorate on several artisans.

Because if they are allowed to work, they have been pinned for having their employees work during this public holiday and day off in France. These business leaders are outraged by very vague legislation, which certainly allows exceptions , but only in establishments which "cannot interrupt work" , such as transport, security or hospitals... It is to clarify this provision that the centrist senators, supported by the government, wished to submit a bill in the spring. Led by the head of the UDI (centre) Hervé Marseille and his colleague Annick Billon, it is examined in first reading.

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"To stabilize things and put an end to the zeal of these labor inspectors, we have no other solution than to legislate," explains rapporteur Olivier Henno (UDI). "If we do nothing, we could end up with the absurdity of seeing street vendors selling lily of the valley, while florists will have to remain closed on this very important day for their business," he describes.

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The centrist text initially aimed to allow establishments already authorized to open on Sundays to do so on May 1st. But in committee, it was extensively modified in recent days to precisely define the scope of businesses benefiting from an exemption solely for Labor Day . These include "local food businesses" (bakeries, pastry shops, butchers, etc.), activities responding to a "traditional use specific to May 1st," such as florists, or establishments carrying out "a cultural activity" such as cinemas and theaters. The latter would therefore be able to employ their employees, provided they volunteer. They would then be paid double, like the other professions covered by these exemptions.

The measure offends all left-wing groups in the Senate: all will try to have the text rejected in its entirety, the communists having even filed a preliminary motion of rejection. "This is a new breach opened in labor law and in the protection of employees," indignantly the socialist Monique Lubin, angry at the "repeated stabs" dealt, according to her, to social progress. While the employers support this legal modification, the unions, for their part, oppose it en bloc: in an inter-union press release published Tuesday, they called on senators to oppose the text. "To call into question the principle of this day is to call into question 100 years of history of social struggle , " write the CGT, CFDT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, UNSA, Solidaires and the FSU.