Have the French lost their work ethic?

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During 2003, the question of whether French people have become disenchanted with work achieved a degree of prominence, with the government and some parliamentary representatives of the ruling conservative UMP party stating on several occasions that public policies should value work more than leisure. A report from the consultative Economic and Social Council has taken a different stance on the topic of the value of work.

On several occasions in 2003, the Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, backed up by several members of his ruling conservative party in parliament, the Union for a People's Movement (Union pour un mouvement populaire, UMP), declared his intention of countering the disenchantment with work that he believes is spreading throughout French society. This had already been an issue in President Jacques Chirac’s 2002 re-election platform (FR0205106F) and also in UMP's successful 2002 National Assembly election campaign (FR0208103F). The point was aimed at the previous, Socialist-led government, one of whose flagship initiatives was legislation to reduce the working week to 35 hours (FR0001137F). This policy was seen by centre-right politicians as running counter to the efforts needed to make companies internationally competitive, and, in their view, was liable to weaken the French 'work ethic' in favour of social gains taking no account of the country’s urgent economic woes. Defending the government's 2003 decision to extend the period of contributions required for a state pension (FR0309103F), the Minister of Social Affairs, Labour and Solidarity, François Fillon, maintained: 'there is no other choice but to work more and better if we want to preserve our social benefit system.'

The Raffarin government has used its desire to restore the 'value of work' as justification for several of its initiatives implemented since it came to office in May 2002. These include relaxing the legislation on the 35-hour week (FR0209105F), creating a new 'minimum employment income' (revenu minimum d’activité, RMA) scheme to get unemployed people back into work (FR0401103N) and abolishing a statutory bank holiday, though this last move was primarily driven by the need to fund initiatives for elderly and disabled people. However, the Minister of Social Affairs, Labour and Solidarity has said that he does not share the view that the French are becoming lazy - though some parliamentarians have gone so far as to compare the country to a huge holiday camp. He admits that the 35-hour week had resulted in more intensive work and that French productivity is high. Nevertheless, he contends that the '35-hour week has had a negative impact on public opinion as far as attitudes were concerned, since it was implemented just when the government should have been taking a more responsible approach to globalisation and should have been telling French people that if they wanted to preserve the best welfare system in the world, they would have to work a little more'. He also defends the principle of the RMA and advocates a more incentive-based benefit scheme for unemployed people.

Two reports with opposing conclusions

Restoring the value of work is being promoted by the governing UMP party as a way of giving a free-market orientation to economic policy. A report submitted to the Prime Minister in December 2003, by a governing party MP, Gilles Carrez, advocates a break with a 'welfare-oriented' approach in favour of one based on 'workfare'. In his report, Mr Carrez presents restoring the value of work as a core principle of a 'modern and popular' centre-right movement, which should have no hesitation in defending an 'effort-based culture' and in addressing the 'exasperation expressed by poorer, hard-working French people, who feel that they are barely better off than those living on welfare'.

These recommendations were not shared by a report submitted to the Prime Minister in July 203 by the advisory Economic and Social Council (Conseil économique et social, CES), a consultative body made up of representatives of the social partners and civil society. This report reasserts the role of work for individuals and the need to provide a framework for the changes that have taken place in employment (eg the increase in insecure jobs) and in work (eg worsening working conditions and in particular, an intensification of work) over the past few years. It recommends steps to reconcile worker mobility and job security based on proposals supported by a number of trade unions, such as life-long training and secure career paths. It also advocates the promotion of social dialogue and participation by workers’ representatives in the organisation of work. Finally, it stresses the need to guarantee decent remuneration for work.

The representatives of private sector employers on the CES did not vote in favour of the report, considering its suggestions irrelevant in terms of the economic issues at stake, whereas the trade unions were generally supportive. The French Democratic Workers’ Confederation (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT) put particular emphasis on secure career paths. The General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT) also lent its support to the document but put particular stress on the issue of deteriorating employment and labour conditions. The French Confederation of Managerial Staff-General Confederation of Managerial Staff (Confédération française des employeurs-Confédération générale des Cadres, CFE-CGC) focused on the 'ambivalent' nature of creativity and autonomy in new types of work. These, it believes, generate stress and this should be recognised in terms of pay for employees at all levels and not just low-wage earners. The French Christian Workers’ Confederation (Confédération des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC) called for the dignity of workers to be recognised and the General Confederation of Labour-Force Ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail-Force Ouvrière, CGT-FO), considers that serious steps must be taken to challenge the attacks on workers' protection caused by globalisation. The National Federation of Independent Unions (Union nationale des syndicats autonomes, UNSA) also supported the conclusions of the report but wants to foster greater workplace democracy, by allowing workers, and not just their representatives, greater direct input.

Commentary

In stating their concerns over a decline in the work ethic in French society, the government and the majority party in parliament are not attempting an evidence-based description of the relationship that the French have with their work. They have not quoted any studies demonstrating a decline in the value attached by employees to work. What they are really doing is endeavouring to assert a value that they hope will create support for a free-market policy framework that could then be wholeheartedly affirmed. This value is perceived as a way of reconciling the views of the various players in French society  the free-market proponents of shifting away from welfare to 'workfare'; the conservative advocates of individual effort; and even those in the middle or lower classes who are reluctant to fund unemployment and minimum benefits through taxation and contributions. However, there has hardly been any public debate on this position, which is located rather in the realm of values than in that of observable fact. Moreover, there have been very few publicly-expressed alternative views on the relationship of employees with work. Instead of merely pointing out the importance of work in society, a more ambitious initiative would have been to take stock of the complex situation that employees have been experiencing at work over the past few years. Indeed, employees seem willing to get themselves involved in their work but at the same time suffer from relatively unrecognised stresses. (Pascal Ughetto, IRES)