Daimler Tries to Kill French 35-Hour Workweek
Daimler started negotiations in June with labor representatives of its more than 800-employee Smart plant in Hambach in north-eastern France to increase the workweek to 39 hours between 2016 and 2018.
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The French 35-hour workweek lives -- barely.
Daimler AG is the latest company to try and skirt the uniquely French law, introduced in 2000 by the then-Socialist government. The German company wants workers at one of its two French factories to put in more hours, hinting that it’ll take operations elsewhere if no accord is reached.