Unions and employers in the textile industry agree on the 35-hour week

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On 6 November 1998, all the trade unions in France's textiles industry were due to sign an agreement on the 35-hour working week, which was negotiated with UIT, the sector's employers' organisation.

A draft agreement was on the implementation of the new "Aubry law" on the 35-hour working week (FR9806113F) was drawn up on 16 October 1998 between the textile industries' employers' organisation, Union des Industries Textiles (UIT) and all the sector's union federations (CFDT, CFTC, CFE-CGC, CGT and CGT-FO).

The main points of the draft deal are as follows:

• in its preamble, it "encourages" companies to bring forward the implementation of the 35-hour week to before the 1 January 2000 deadline, by using the measures contained in the first Aubry law;

• the amount of overtime worked in a year will be set at a maximum of 130 hours (the maximum level sanctioned by the law). This quota however, may be raised by 45 hours by company agreement;

• the purchasing power of employees' income is guaranteed;

• managerial and professional staff will have their working hours reduced in the form of "rest days over the year, and time savings accounts"; and

• the document calls for "a reworking and broadening of the intersectoral agreement on the ARPE" (this 1995 agreement set up a system in which early retirement is traded off for the creation of new jobs).

CGT-FO and CFE-CGC immediately indicated their readiness to sign the agreement, while CFDT, CGT and CFTC are heading in the same direction. Acknowledging the "positive steps" contained in employers' proposals, the unions decided to consult employees, giving themselves until 6 November to sign the document.

Ernest-Antoine Seillière, the president of the CNPF employers' confederation, welcomed the outcome of the talks. The CGT general secretary, Louis Viannet, felt that the draft agreement on the 35-hour working week in the textile industry" demonstrates the possibilities of moving the situation forward" in terms of reducing working time. "We are a long way from the agreement on the 35-hour working week in the metalworking industry [FR9808129F] and the advances made have prompted our federation to approve the agreement, despite some flaws which can be remedied at company level," he stated.