French workers fight for the right to be lazy

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


Uh, yeah, generally it's easier to manage when you have to work fewer hours.

So why do you think people should be working more - you want peopel to have a hard time for no reason?

I highly doubt that.

Well, I suspect it's combination of the other two myself, but you have to wonder if they are more productive and efficient when they work a fraction of the time but have an equally (or perhaps even more) functional society.

Maybe it's the extra lesiure time that gives them that extra bit of focus and energy.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by General Ludd
So why do you think people should be working more - you want peopel to have a hard time for no reason?

Are you really this stupid? If there's a certain amount you HAVE to pay to each employee, it's better to be able to employ people for 40 hours a week than 35, and 40 isn't bad. If a company wants to employ people for 35, more power to it.

[Jaguar]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Which is why you make so much more than him, right? They aren't paid by the hour. My dad and most of the partners have a somewhat vested interest in bringing in more money, as all of the profits get PAID OUT to them. And you get bonuses for bringing in more money - my dad was one of about 20 partners (out of about 750), IIRC, that had over a million dollars in billings last year.

EDIT: xpost

@ people who don't understand law partnerships.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
If there's a certain amount you HAVE to pay to each employee, it's better to be able to employ people for 40 hours a week than 35

Not for the employee.

And the employees outnumbers the employers - so it's utilitarian.

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Which is why you make so much more than him, right? They aren't paid by the hour. My dad and most of the partners have a somewhat vested interest in bringing in more money, as all of the profits get PAID OUT to them. And you get bonuses for bringing in more money - my dad was one of about 20 partners (out of about 750), IIRC, that had over a million dollars in billings last year.

EDIT: xpost

If they aren' t paid per hour then it's rediculous to mention them.

[Odin]

Originally posted by SnowFire

As for being "unskilled," yes, unskilled laborers have fewer job options. Why do you want to make them even fewer? What about an unskilled laborer who has 3 kids, a wife who can't find work, and still wants to put his kids through college? He may be willing to work 50 hours a week to earn the money necessary. But France won't let him, because the government's infinite wisdom has decided that he'd rather have time off, not working, then being able to support his family.

That it what a minimum wage is for. (and a decent minnimum wage, like $9 or $10, not the pathetic amount it is now).

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by General Ludd



Not for the employee.

And the employees outnumbers the employers - so it's utilitarian.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by General Ludd
Not for the employee.

And the employees outnumbers the employers - so it's utilitarian.

Not if the company goes out of business due to overseas competition that isn't so restricted and has to fire everyone.

[Imran Siddiqui]

But in France the time is probably spent reading literature in cafes, writing poetry, or maybe a spot of painting.

No, those activities are only for the unemployed .

That it what a minimum wage is for. (and a decent minnimum wage, like $9 or $10, not the pathetic amount it is now).

So then he's fired because his company can't afford him. He's better off now?

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


Not if the company goes out of business due to overseas competition that isn't so restricted and has to fire everyone.

True, but all the industrialized nations should start reducing the work week. If they don't unemployment is going to get worse everywhere.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by BlackCat
If they aren' t paid per hour then it's rediculous to mention them.

No it isn't. It's perfect evidence that one can work much more than 35 hours a week without horribly debilitating effects

[Kidlicious]

Try this if anyone else is seriously curious about it. The right wingers will call it biased though.

Jeremy Rifkin

[Ted Striker]

Here's how this thread has gone down:


People that have jobs = look at the 35 hour law favorably

Kids that are still in school and have never worked = Call the French lazy

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by General Ludd


You have to remember that we're talking about France, and not the USA. It's true that in the USA people would just use the time to stuff their faces with big macs and watch king of queens. But in France the time is probably spent reading literature in cafes, writing poetry, or maybe a spot of painting.

Or just making more frogs

[Imran Siddiqui]

Oerdin and Plato are students?

And why do I think that DanS won't agree with the 35 hour workweek either?