At a time when the idea of “working more” is in force, that France celebrates the centenary of the law limiting precisely the day of 8 working hours, or 48 hours per week. Major in the history of the social law, this legislation has indeed been passed by the Assembly on April 17, 1919, before being definitively adopted by the Senate a week later, on April 23. In a context of massification of workers with the rise of industrialization, the objective was to prevent a violent social crisis or a revolution. And there is no doubt that this law constitutes a victory for the CGT and the workers ‘ movement, which demanded already since the 1890s this limitation.
one Hundred years later, it is clear that the length of the work week, effective (and non legal) of French employees has only slightly diminished since it is 39 hours, according to the Insee. But calculated over the year, this term has well and truly melted by 23% between 1950 and 2017. “This reduction …
