The text, adopted by 229 votes to 110, was transmitted to the National Assembly. The government is aiming for final adoption before May 1, 2027.
On Tuesday, June 16, the Senate adopted the bill authorizing artisan bakers, pastry chefs and florists to have their employees work on May 1. The text was voted on without modification, by 229 votes to 110. It is now transmitted to the National Assembly. The executive aims for final adoption before May 1, 2027.
What the text and current law provides
The bill allows artisan bakers and florists to have their employees work on that day. It sets a condition: a sector agreement must set the rules for volunteering and remuneration. The labor code already authorizes establishments which cannot interrupt their activity to have their employees work, paid double. But it does not specify the professions concerned. This vagueness, maintained since 2023 by controls of bakers followed by fines, is precisely what the text wants to clarify. May 1st is the only paid public holiday on the calendar.
In the Senate, the Minister of Labor and Solidarity, Jean-Pierre Farandou, defended a “clarification” text. He pleaded for “a solution that is solid on the legal level, intelligent on the practical level and respectful of our social history”. According to him, the requirement for a sector agreement will “strengthen the power of the unions”. In mid-April, the government had to stop the examination of a previous similar bill with a broader scope. He returns with a text that he considers “more balanced and respectful of social dialogue”. The examination in the National Assembly will not take place before September.
Unsurprisingly, given its right and center majority, the Senate voted for the text. The entire left opposed it, relaying the position of hostile unions. In a joint statement, the socialist, communist and environmental groups feared a “breach in labor law”. They denounced the “questioning of a historic social conquest”. On the right, Senator Olivier Paccaud (Les Républicains) said: “It is in no way a question of removing a right or tearing down a totem. It is a question of creating a right for those who, voluntarily, wish to work.” The sequence comes after an already very political Workers’ Day. Six weeks earlier, the Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, and the boss of Renaissance, Gabriel Attal, each appeared in a bakery to defend “freedom to work”.
Unions, branches and revived debate
The number one of the CGT, Sophie Binet, denounced “small political calculations”. During a rally near the Senate, she affirmed that the text would benefit “mass distribution, Interflora, Marie Blachère, Éric Kayser, Paul, all the large chains which are today in the process of vampirizing crafts.” Other professions, such as butchery and fishmongers, deplored a “clear breakdown in equality”. For Olivier Henno (UDI), rapporteur of the text in the Senate, “it is a first step”. However, he regrets the limitation to bakers and florists. “My personal conviction is that it should have been extended to all food professions and to cultural businesses, cinemas and theaters,” he says. He deplores debates that have “flown into political posturing”.
