Thursday, December 11, 2014

To work, or not to work (on Sunday)!

Yesterday, a very controversial law was discussed at the Assemblée Nationale (the French Parliament) presented today to the Conseil des ministres (the government). Why? Because it would allow certain stores to open on Sundays and late at night. This would be limited to touristy areas, but for France it's a serious breach in the "rest on Sunday" habit - even though already 30% of the people work on Sundays (hospitals, firemen, gas/petrol stations...). To illustrate this big debate, I found a photo that I took in La boutique de l'Assemblée Nationale (where the law is going to be discussed in January), a store where you can find many many blue/white/red objects! 

6 comments:

  1. We've had Sunday shopping for years, but it doesn't seem to really add on that much more revenue for stores. People just spread out their spending on an extra day, but don't add to it.

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    1. That is what the people who are against the opening on Sundays say. But the law also includes touristy areas where there is probably some additional money to get as a lot of tourists don't come twice; if a store is not open on the day they're there, they just don't buy.

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  2. I like the idea of (most) people having a day off every week. Of course, there are times on Sundays when I wish the local Brico was open!

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    1. Yes, everyone is a bit schizophrenic on this topic; as consumers we want everything to be open 24/7, as employees, we want everything to be closed most of the time!

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  3. It's been that way here for so long, I admit I now take it for granted that I'm able to shop for anything and everything on Sunday. So, did the law pass?

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  4. I made a mistake, in fact, the law was just presented to the "conseil des ministres", it will be discussed at the assemblée, in January... So we don't know yet if it'll pass.

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