Two recent court decisions have reignited a longstanding debate about whether shops in France should remain open on Sundays, reports FRANCE 24.
On September 26, DIY stores Castorama and Leroy Merlin were ordered to close 15 Paris-area locations on Sundays following a complaint by rival Bricorama, which had been instructed last November to keep its own regional stores closed on Sundays after being sued by a labour union.
Just days before the latest ruling, on September 23, another court complied with a different labour union’s request to force perfume chain Sephora to close its flagship location on the Champs-Elysée at 9 p.m. on Sunday, rather than midnight.
The rulings have added new fire to the fight between those who favour deregulation in order to spur a French economy barely out of recession and traditionalists who defend the importance of balancing work with leisure time.
The head of the main French employers’ union, Pierre Gattaz, told French TV channel BFM-TV last week that he was “shocked” by the court’s decisions to impose new restrictions on prominent French stores.
“It’s unbearable. Clients want to consume more and staff want to work more, and they can’t. It’s crazy,” he said.
The CEO of Bricorama, Jean-Claude Bourrelier, welcomed the court ruling as a way of ensuring that his competitors will now face the same rules as he does. But he, too, said the ideal solution would be allowing everyone to open on Sundays.
“I am a retailer. If my clients want to come on Sundays I have a duty to be open,” Bourrelier told Reuters. He said that closing his Paris-area shops has cost him between 15 and 20 percent of his annual profits.
Bourrelier also noted that he never had trouble finding employees willing to work on France’s traditional day of rest – especially because they were paid three times the normal hourly rate.
Indeed, those who support stores staying upon on Sunday say it would provide a boost to employment at a time when France is dealing with a 10.5-percent jobless rate, feeble economic growth and stagnating consumer spending.
But Sunday has been legally protected as a day of rest since 1906, though there are exceptions for fishmongers, florists and other types of commerce, including those in designated tourist areas like Paris’s Montmartre.
Businesses that violate the law by operating on Sunday without authorisation face fines of up to 6,000 euros ($8,000).
Those who defend the notion of Sunday as largely commerce-free – including unions that have fought to keep France’s 35-hour work week, as well as Catholic churches – argue that it is important to uphold the tradition of one day a week devoted to rest and relaxation.
But recent polls suggest that public attitudes toward the issue have moved decisively in the other direction. An Ipsos survey in November 2012 found 63 percent of the French in favour of expanding Sunday shopping. Meanwhile, hundreds of store employees marched in May to demand the right to work on Sunday, using the slogan “Yes Week-End” – a tongue-in-cheek appropriation of US President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign mantra, “Yes We Can”.
Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.