France debates wider Sunday store opening hours

PARIS — It’s the week of Bastille Day and the French are gearing up to debate a measure that’s nothing short of revolutionary: A plan to — gasp! — allow more work on Sunday in a bid to boost employment, soak up more tourist euros, and make life easier for French consumers.

Opponents say it will signal the end of French civilization as we know it. Advocates argue it’ll give the economy a much-needed jolt as the nation wrestles with recession.

Those are the stark terms framing a national debate over a bill on allowing more shops open on France’s officially mandated day of rest, set to be discussed Wednesday in Parliament and voted on by the legislature’s lower house this week.

As so frequently happens when France’s political commentators wage ideological battle, the conflict pits supporters of traditional French values of quality of life and family time against those who say they want to drag the country into the 21st century.

“I think this debate is characteristic of the never-ending disputes of French society and its politicians,” said Jacques Perrilliat, a consultant for store owners on the Champs Elysees, the most famous shopping street in Paris.

The debate comes as France suffers through its worst recession since the 1940s, leaving politicians of all stripes desperate to find measures that will boost the economy and prop up consumer spending power.

“We can’t say that we want to support the French people’s spending power and at the same time stop them from spending it freely when they want,” Labor Minister Xavier Darcos said.

The new law seeks to bring order and clarity to the tangle of loopholes that has sprung up around a law dating back to 1906 that established Sunday as a mandatory day off.

Work on Sundays already is permitted through a patchwork of more or less official exceptions, such as the one that allows shops in tourist zones such as the Champs Elysees to open if their wares or services fit a vaguely defined category of entertainment and cultural goods. In other areas, such as Paris’ tourist-packed Marais quarter, shops selling jewelry and clothing benefit from authorities turning a blind eye.

The 1906 law was passed after a deadly mining accident that helped mobilize support for greater worker rights. It has been repeatedly amended over the past century.

“Look at the (Marais’) Rue des Francs Bourgeois, shops there are open every Sunday because there are hordes of people, coming from the Place des Vosges and elsewhere, and close to none of (the shops) meets the criteria for sporting, cultural or entertainment, so in theory they don’t have the right,” said Perrilliat, the former head of a retail industry body.

Under the new law, shops in France’s three largest metropolitan areas — Paris, Marseille and Lille — would be permitted to open on Sundays. Employees would have the choice to refuse Sunday working hours, and employers would have to pay those who agree to work double overtime. Shops in another 500 towns and villages deemed to be of “touristic interest” could also open, but without the obligation to pay employees double overtime.

“It’s simply a common sense law,” said Philippe Houillon, a member of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party, which proposed the bill. Sarkozy himself has championed the law as a key component of his reform program.

“We are not talking about making this a rule of thumb, but to legitimize a situation that already exists,” Houillon said.

France’s powerful unions and the opposition Socialist party have meanwhile waged a campaign of trench warfare against the bill.

“We have a real disagreement on this, we are defending the Sunday as a rest day, the only day people can relax with their families, play sports, express their spirituality,” said Socialist lawmaker Jean-Marc Ayrault.

The law “will progressively lead to a generalization of Sunday work, creating a change in society and new social injustices,” said the leader of France’s CFDT union, Francois Chereque.

Another union leader, Bernard Thibault of the CGT, warned that employees who refuse to work Sundays will be discriminated against. “If you refuse, you won’t have a job,” Thibault said.

Shoppers on Paris’ streets are also taking sides.

“I think it goes against the idea of spending time with your family, because most people are off on Sundays, so for me it’s not a good idea,” said Patrice Noirclerc.

“France today needs it,” countered Alexandre De Lamberterie.

Associated Press writer Helene Goupil contributed to this report.