Posted on 07/24/2009 2:37:15 PM PDT by Cincinna
Many French people aren't devout but hold to at least one religious teaching: Sunday is a day of rest.
That practice is under threat from a controversial pro-work law that will allow more French stores to open Sundays. The law was passed by Parliament Thursday. That is causing worry over the decline of leisure in the traditional French lifestyle, piquing many who feel that unindustrious Sundays are something of a birthright.
"Sunday is sacred," said Marion Schmitt, a 52-year-old saleswoman at a clothing store in Paris. "It's important to spend time with your family."
Loosening Sunday shopping rules is part of President Nicolas Sarkozy's recipe to boost France's economy. He came to power with a slogan "work more to earn more." Economists say that easing all Sunday working rules could help increase the number of retail jobs between 3% and 10%. Every Sunday of business will yield "an extra day of economic growth" and "additional spending power," Mr. Sarkozy said in a recent speech.
Mr. Sarkozy also said that having shops closed on Sundays was backwards in one of the world's top tourist destinations. He complained that he had to intervene last month, when U.S. first lady Michelle Obama wanted to buy children's clothes in Paris on Sunday, June 7.
France is one of the last European countries to relax Sunday trading rules. The U.K., where the Sunday break traces back to the Middle Ages, loosened most restrictions in the mid 1990s. In staunchly Catholic Italy, rules were eased more than a decade ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Poor, downtrodden Michelle.
.....many of us remember when stores were closed on Sundays in this country...we seemed to get along all right.
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Sarko takes another giant step to modernize the French economy.
It is bizarre that it is the mostly atheistic, “laic” Left that never goes to church on Sunday, or any other day, that is leading the outrage and protest against the elimination of the arcane and outdated Sunday blue laws in France. Many French view the no Sunday work, the 6 week minimum paid yearly vacation, and retirement at 80% pay at 55 as their God given right. Most French people want to have the option of working on Sunday, but more importantly, the right to shop on their day off.
Businesses are forced to remain closed on Sunday.
“plenty of groups are campaigning against the change. Labor unions and the Socialist and Communist opposition parties have accused Mr. Sarkozy of trying to dismantle France’s protective labor laws, which stop corporations from overworking their employees. The Socialist Party said it would refer the bill to France’s constitutional court on the grounds that it infringes upon workers’ rights.”
That was a very long time ago, and times and the manner of doing business have changed.
Many family business remain closed on Sunday to this day, but it is their free choice to do so.Many other make the choice to stay open.
Arcane Blue Laws still exist in many states in the US It is still a crime to shoot a frog on Sunday in Maine You can buy a razor, but no razor blades. Until very recently, in NYState, liquor stores could not open on Sunday. Now they can open after 1pm.
If anyone knows of any other Sunday Blue Laws, please post them. They are often very amusing.
The Tour riders are getting paid to race, and they are probably working harder than anyone else in France, on race days.
I live in Paris and I’m against it. Especially for inside Paris. It’s bad enough having the bloody shoppers crowding the sidewalks to shop in those same-old same-old chain stores selling shoes, cards, perfume, rags and all the rest of the junk that could possibly be made in China stinking the place up with their cars and running us over with their bikes. Can’t they just stay at home one day a week.
And that fat hog Oprah. Remember when she called Hermes racist because they wouldn’t let her in when the store was closed. I think they were also holding a reception as well.
Bakeries, “boulangeries” are never closed on Sunday in France. Bread is considered a necessity, and fall under a different category of business.
As to the rude poster who lives in Paris: Living in such a magnificent city as Paris is a privelege. Tourism is one of the top industries in France, and without those “awful” tourists, the French economy would collapse.
If you want empty streets and peace and quiet, move to the country. The French countryside is magnificent.
I lived in the center of Paris for 14 years. Many tourists visited to walk the charming streets,shop the quaint shops, enjoy the views along the Seine, sample the world famous ice cream, and enjoy the magnificent churches and architecture. We never minded; we love city life. There are plenty of quiet, peaceful side streets to walk in every neighborhood in Paris.
Instead of staying home, they ought to go to church.
I think one reason many small retail businesses stay closed on Sundays is that opening on Sunday often just diminishes their Saturday sales by spreading them out over two days.
Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
When in Paris—demand that the peasants open their stores for you!
I agree with you, and commend you for your desire to take all of God’s commandments seriously - even the fourth commandment. Even if we are travelling, we will buy the food we need for Sunday on Saturday. When we are with my parents, who are essentially non-believers, it makes matters rather uncomfortable.
Not working on Sunday to keep the Sabbath, is your right.
The French don’t go by Scripture. Most of them are Atheists and never even read the Bible, let alone live by it.
They do it because they are lazy, and want to work as little as possible, and have every cockamamie holiday off.
I realize that, that Atheism/Epicureanism has a well-established history there, of course, from the events of 1789. Even some of my favorite musical composers - Debussy, Ravel - were French atheists, and in music and fine art impressionism rebelled against semblance of well-established rules, which latter implied a transcendent standard. It’s an “even a broken clock” situation, though the motives, as you say, are nowhere nearly rooted in piety.
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