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2mo ago

Senate Fast-Tracks Bill to Allow Bakeries and Florists to Open on May Day

The chamber has begun an accelerated single-reading debate on a centrist proposal to define narrow labor exceptions for volunteers at double pay in 2026.

Paris, le 1er mai 2025.
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Le Sénat examine jeudi matin un texte pour permettre aux boulangers et aux fleuristes, notamment, de faire travailler leurs salariés le 1er-Mai, une initiative vilipendée par les syndicats et la gauche
"Si on ne faisait rien, on pourrait aboutir à l'aberration de voir des vendeurs de muguet à la sauvette exercer, alors que les fleuristes devront rester fermés dans cette journée très importante pour leur activité", selon Olivier Henno (UDI)

Overview

  • On July 3, the French Senate launched an expedited single-reading debate on a centrist bill aiming for implementation in 2026.
  • The proposal, spearheaded by senators Hervé Marseille and Annick Billon, would allow bakeries, florists and cultural venues to open on May 1 if employees volunteer and receive double pay.
  • The initiative follows high-profile fines, including a €78,750 penalty for a Paris bakery that worked staff on May 1, 2021, and probes into five Vendée bakers for opening in 2024.
  • All eight major unions have issued a rare unanimous communiqué and socialist, communist and ecologist Senate groups plan motions to reject the measure as an erosion of workers’ rights.
  • Supporters argue the bill clarifies murky labor-code exceptions and safeguards artisan livelihoods, while opponents warn it breaches the symbolic status of France’s sole chômé holiday.