In December 1998, shift workers moved from 42 to 40 hours a week. This is the only CEP local in B.C. where all the shift workers are on 40 hours. The agreement, which concerns some 10,000 park employees, is scheduled to take effect on June 6. Park management said the shorter workweek will create 600 new jobs by May 2000. The law, passed last May by the Socialist government of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, calls for businesses with more than 20 employees to institute the 35-hour workweek by Feb. 1, 2000.
Smaller companies have two more years to comply.
Disneyland will benefit from tax cuts and other incentives offered to businesses that act before the deadline. In the 1970s, there was an All Unions Committee to Shorten the Workweek, headquartered in Chicago. Rather than the layoff of 86 nurses, the staff agreed to reduced hours and pay cuts. The agreement between the Massachusetts Nurses Association and the hospital not only saved jobs but also gave supervisors the ability to adjust staffing levels to meet daily patient volume. American Optical, St. Louis branch, Missouri, 1975.