Only In France

And we think we’ve got it bad. All the wrangling we’ve been doing over hours of service is nothing compared to what’s facing French drivers and fleet owners. That’s French as in France, not Quebec. You know, the Eiffel Tower. Sidewalk tables at a brasserie. Unbelievably stylish women (can I say that any more?).

Anyhow, in its wisdom, and with nary a shred of consultation with the business community, the decidedly lefty French gouvernement has decreed that the work week will be limited to 35 hours as of Jan. 1, 2000. That’s for firms with more than 20 employees, but even smaller companies won’t escape it: in two years, they’ll have to adhere to this nutty law as well.

The business sector is in a tizzy, I’ll tell you. In fact, it merited a two-page story in the Oct. 18 edition of Time, which reported on a recent rally of 25,000 business executives venting their anger in a Paris exhibition hall. At the same, a far-left trade union led thousands of workers on marches in 20 French cities to complain that the law didn’t go far enough! Bizarre.

I spent a week in la belle France in late September, visiting various Renault facilities (impressive), and the 35-hour week was part of just about every conversation. A lot of people don’t know how they’ll deal with it. Or with some of its nastier implications.

What’s the big deal? The law will apply to truck drivers as well as waiters and teachers and company presidents and anybody else who isn’t collecting pogey. Including unbelievably stylish women, I guess. This isn’t such a huge deal for a fair number of ordinary working folk and their employers. After all, it’s only a reduction of four hours a week, down from a mandated 39, and in some cases I’d guess that difference will get soaked up without the need for drastic change. But in most cases that loss will represent a huge backward step in productivity-along with a bigger payroll, because adding staff will be the only solution in some cases. And since when did a truck driver anywhere work a 35-hour week? Nice idea maybe, but it’s just not on.

I spoke with one person, a marketing manager with the European Disneyland operation outside Paris, who asked for a raise and was told that she was getting one, in effect, when the 35-hour week kicked in. Her total salary would stay the same, but she’d be getting more on an hourly basis. Trouble is, her job’s not changing, and extra staff are not being hired.

I spoke with Dominique Bataille, who runs Transports Bataille SA, a small Paris-based reefer fleet. His 12 trucks haul produce and dairy products within a 400-kilometre radius of that city. Half of his drivers are home every night, the other half are gone for the week. As things stand now, he told me, the law allows his guys to drive for four hours, take a 45-minute rest, and then drive another four hours. After that, there’s a mandatory 11-hour break. Twice a week they can add an extra hour of driving time, but they can’t do more than 56 hours of driving in a seven-day stretch.

The details don’t really matter because it’s easy to see that a 35-hour week just doesn’t fit. Dominique figures, at best, he’ll need to hire at least two more drivers and buy as many new trucks.

However, and this is going to sound mighty familiar, he says he has an awful time attracting drivers. The reasons are broadly similar to the ones faced by North American fleet owners: a poor industry image, and a lack of qualified drivers. France no longer has conscription laws, and it seems that the French army was a big source of trained drivers. With that gone, would-be truckers are not keen to take the 18-month course required. Yes, 18 months. The situation is bad enough that M. Bataille often finds himself behind the wheel instead of a desk.

Even more troublesome in the 35-hour regime is that foreign truckers won’t be subject to the same restrictive law. So, in a largely deregulated European trucking industry, Dominique expects a flood of Polish and Spanish truckers to swarm all over his freight. They’ll be at least 20% more productive. Dominique figures the only thing that might save him is patriotism on the part of his customers.

Looks to me like he’s in trouble. Along with the rest of the French truck industry facing a government that has no idea of business realities. And seems to care less.

And we think we’ve got it bad?