Réduction du temps de travail : la loi Robien

Reductions in Working Hours: the Robien Law
On the basis of a proposal by Gilles de Robien, a law was passed in France in June 1996, allowing businesses to make agreements to reduce working hours – either to create new jobs (offensive strategy) or to avoid lay-offs (defensive strategy) – without cutting pay proportionately thanks to compensation provided in large part by the Government.
This law immediately gave a new impetus to negotiations on working hours which had scarcely been progressing. Many businesses seized this opportunity to reduce the working hours of their staff by carrying out an internal reorganization to seek productivity gains. These gains and the reduction in expenditures for unemployment payments should allow the provision of compensation so that as a result the partners will be winners. Thus at least is the thesis which Guy Aznar defends, a thesis which nonetheless, as the author admits, continues to be vigorously criticized by some who in particular worry about the excessive cost of this measure whose effects on job creation and the reduction of unemployment remain uncertain and thus whose cost for the nation could be very high.