Particle.news
Download on the App Store
6 ARTICLES
·
last wk.

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.
Image
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.