The Wall Street Journal on the possible enactment of a law making possible for some French businesses to open on Sunday especially those, which attract the majority of tourists in cities such as Paris:
For many French citizens, being able to shop and work on Sunday
would improve the quality of their lives. Some workers, such as
students, even prefer to work on weekends. Opening on Sunday is good
for the job market too. Legislative backers say the measure could save
15,000 jobs.
France being France, the bill will not make it universally legal to
trade on Sundays -- that would be too simple. It will merely allow more
stores to open in tourist areas and cities of more than one million
people. Businesses will need the regional prefect's authorization, and
the measure makes it illegal to discriminate against employees who
refuse to work on Sunday. Workers will be paid double for Sunday duty.
Even so, the proposal is proving controversial. The Socialist Mayor of
Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, said recently: "Sunday is a day of rest
respected by most citizens and it must not be sacrificed by this vision
of a de-regulated economy that does not take into account the family
and personal lives of workers."
Au contraire. If France is going to
emerge from the economic slowdown as quickly as possible, businesses
need to be free to adapt to changing times -- including the ability to
serve customers when the customers want.
I have to admit that I would love it if almost everything wasn't closed in France on Sundays, but I'm wondering if it is still possible for some countries to refuse Americanization (which I love) while hanging on to what make them unique. My guess is that once that law is passed, it is the beginning of the end for in a couple of years, everything will be open on Sundays in Paris and elsewhere because the thing about Americanization is that you can just taste bit of it especially when you like perpetual movement and speed.
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