Commentaires

Je réponds à une observation. Désolé, Francophones, mais je ne masacre pas la langue Française quand mon Anglias est complexe. Donnez-moi un peu mois(ou ans?).

    I am highly reticent as a guest of this country to have strong political opinions on France's Affairs, but I will say this: France's problem is the polaric opposite of America's, in my opinion. France has protected its own workers to the point of near-paralysis (Am I wrong to think that France is shit-scared of having another May 1968 or 1995-96?), while America provides little to no safety net for people who find themselves without a job and don't have health coverage as a result of losing that job. There is no requisite system of contracts as there it exists in France (although mid-to-upper-level executives do oftentimes sign contracts, mainly as a means of lawsuit prevention), and companies are oftentimes free to fire people whenever they want as long as there is no harassment, entrapment, or discrimination based on race, gender, religion, national origin, veteran status, and in some states and localities sexual orientation and gender expression. There is some union presence in America, but it is a rare case indeed in which issues or hiring and firing cause an uproar as the CPE has done. The prevailing belief is that the company should have the freedom to determine what benefits it bestows on employees that are laid off or fired, and that has brought about a world of poverty, ruined careers, ruined families, and endless stories of injustice. A common example: A fired executive I knew who made over $200,000 per year was left with no severance pay, a bill of $750 per month to provide his family with health insurance for a term limited to six months, and state-sanctioned unemployment benefits of only $200 per week that lasted three months. The unemployment benefits barely covered his insurance before any living costs!

    The French system of job protections and contracts is so complex that I would not even begin to claim I have a full understanding of the details and the reasons these protections came about, but I will say from my experience in the French office and my partner's experience as management that the protections, while seemingly just and bent on protecting the worker from many of the horrors I mention above, have become so restrictive that every hiring decision becomes a painful risk and every employee that doesn't work out can become a chronic headache that drains productivity and growth – and I've seen several unscrupulous employees hide behind the web of rules to get away with just about anything they want (within certain parameters) in the workplace. The problems with employment rules, as I see from my limited view, run far deeper than the recent flap concerning the CPE. The entire French employment contract system is screaming for an overhaul – via honest, rational, and compassionate dialogue with politicians that are a bit more in touch with the everyday worker and management – that protects employees from abuses in the name of profit (and I am of the belief that there are some things that are more important than profit), financial peril and career ruination – but also give employers more flexibility than they currently have to develop their businesses and create more jobs. I am deathly afraid that if France does not confront the inherent problems within her employment protections, they will be left with fewer choices about employment protections in the future...and I don't think France needs all of the bullshit that came with Margaret Thatcher, so I hope everyone comes to their senses soon. Things just can't go on like this. 

If I had to choose between the two systems as they exist, though, I would choose the French over the American. In my opinion, the consequences of the American system are far more dire than that of the French.

I'll write about prosperity, perception, and the American middle class in my next post.

 

Comments

[hyacinthe]

Mai 1968 est quelquechose d'extrêmement différent ; en effet, il était question d'une modernisation de la société française (cf "il est interdit d'interdire") dans une volonté de libération des moeurs voulue par une société composée de nombreux jeunes, c'est la génération des baby-boomers, et d'un autre côté une augmentation, méritée, des salaires pour les salariés. Contrairement à une idée reçue, les syndicats n'étaient pas à l'origine des mouvements ( ils ont pris le train en marche). En 1995 les grèves avaient pour origine la réforme des retraites, entre autre, qui est finalement passée avec le gouvernement Raffarin.

[Otir]

Your analysis is very interesting. I have the reverse point of view (a French now living in the US) - and I have the same problem as you do by the way, when it comes to putting my ideas in good English, so I apologize for the broken English -

I'd add a note to the fact that in France the mentality about "work", "patronat" (bosses) and above all "money", is largely tainted by the religion background. The United States have brought people from protestant countries first, who did not have the same views about "work" and "money-making" as people from catholic countries, were poverty is a "virtue" and can give you a choice spot in the "other world".

This is very hidden, but still present. It is highly "shameful" for someone in France to be claiming to be a business owner, it immediately brings ideas that this person is an "exploitor".

It took me ten minutes (plus transportation to the town) and thirty-five bucks to start my own business in America, where I was an immigrant with no knowledge whatsoever, when I had tried for years to build a "plan" for same (not same business though) in France, and had to attend numerous "stages" and tedious (incomprehensible) sessions of explanation to no avail by the way - although it was in my native language. It felt like there was no hope, and it was much more comfortable for me to go on living with public aids (which I never applied for in the US by the way, because I have been more busy with actually making the same amount of money myself).

I am neither catholic nor protestant by the way, but I have to say, I find it more comfortable for me to be DOING something, rather than expecting "l'Etat" to protect me.

I still am very critical of lots of things that I find highly dysfunctional in the US, for instance the health system, that should not be the domain of insurance companies at all. But that is another story. I am afraid I got carried away in this comment, from your original post. Please apologize.

[Mizez Slocombe]

@Hyacinthe: Merci de crée les la distinction entre 1968 et 1995.

@ Otir Fantastic observations about poverty as morality and its affect on culture. I think I make mistaken assumptions as a result of my comparatively deep study of the Revolutionary Period here in France and it's nasty divorce from the Catholic church. But I'm finding that a dualistic "all or nothing" approach to the History of France just does not work. Just because there were some aspect of old ways that the populace could no longer stand, does not necessarily mean that every aspect of the former ways were thrown away. The spirit Louis XIV still lives, for sure, so it would be no surprise for vestiges of the Catholic prizing of poverty to remain as well.

I am beginning to notice among some French people (although I find this phenomenon global, but manifested in iots own special way here) a sort of reveling and sense of entitlement to exploitation, self-indulgence, and an almost aristocratic sense that there are still an entirely different set of rules for "le cadre".

The US is infected with the protestant (which certainly does not require one to be protestant, Happy Passover, Otir), which drives people into a frenzy of guilt due to moral assoications with idleness. I think this phenomenon has much to do with US culture accepting so little vacation time in comparison to other industrialized nations, and also, in my opinion, turn most of the responsibility for failures and problems over to the individual instead of the institution, corporation, or some other form of collective group.

[Trudaine]

Hello

Me again on the CPE affair, just to give you a link to an article by S. Blumenthal in the New York Review of Books you might find interesting http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18978
Cheers

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