The 35-hour week proposal, which Jospin said would aid the unemployed, was the central axis of Jospin's election victory last year. The working week will be reduced from 39 to 35, but workers will have no protection against pay loss. Jospin's bill also exempted 45 public sector firms from the law. Employers' initial opposition has become more muted as they begin to see the potential for vast productivity increases, flexibility and pay cuts. The action was a warning strike to prepare for pay negotiations.
Unions expect the Socialist government to enforce wage restraint.
Strikes by three French pilots' unions are planned May 24-25 against Air France plans to cut wages. The union's demands are to limit pilots to four flights a day and to end the lower pay scale for pilots introduced in June 1997. The pilots say that poor working conditions are now affecting the safety and quality of Air France flights. Its announcement follows a secret ballot last week in which miners overwhelming rejected a move to individual contracts. The contracts would have removed restrictions on management's power to hire and fire, and would have introduced greater flexibility in directing labor, in return for pay increases.