French cafe-owners in uproar over 35 hour week ruling

AFP reports:

A French court ruling that the 35 hour working week must apply in hotels, bars and restaurants triggered uproar in the hospitality industry, amid dire warnings that it will impoverish staff and jeopardize many struggling businesses.


On Wednesday the country's highest administrative court -- the state council -- decided that a 2004 deal under which the 850,000 employees in hotels, bars and restaurants can work 39 hours a week instead of 35 contravenes the key reform of the last Socialist Party (PS) government.

The decision left an estimated 200,000 businesses in legal limbo, uncertain over the costs of implementing the measure, as staff expressed fears that they will see their already low-level incomes shrink still further.

Socialism really is reactionary.The state owns you because you can only work so many hours.