Who is “on board”: how many individuals and/or organisations are advocating the topic in your country and do you form partnerships?
In our country, 3 trade unions (CGT, FSU and Solidaires), several organisations or associations as Attac, Economistes attérrés, Copernic or Collectif Roosevelt or association of unemployed people
Who do you encounter as opponents and what are their counterarguments?
All organisations of employers, the right wing and social democrats (as most of Socialist party). They say competitiveness is the best thing for employment, and that working conditions is not a problem of working time.
What is the public opinion on the working time reduction in your country? Is it favourable?
t is really diverse. The introduction of the 35-hour week in the early 2000s was appreciated but also criticized because many employers were reluctant to increase wages and tried, at the same time, to make work more intense and flexible.
What is your next step in the campaign? And what are your short-term, medium-term and long-terms objectives?
The situation is really difficult in France just now, and Macron’s policies are encouraging employers to increase working time. We try to resist and ask for reducing working time as a solution against unemployment (competitiveness is not a solution and this kind of policies have been implemented for ages) and as a solution for better working conditions, more equality between men and women. However, it is not real campaign . We were impressed by the IG Metall struggle in Germany but the result is quite complicated, I think.