To open or not on May 1st? Tradespeople, divided on the issue, will find out on Thursday during a vote in the National Assembly.

The controversy caused a great stir last year after bakers in Vendée, Charente and Paris were upset by surprise inspections followed by fines for opening and having their employees work on May 1st.

In doing so, they contravened article 3133-4 of the Labour Code, according to which "May 1st is a public holiday and a day off work".

The current law specifies, however, that exceptions are possible "in establishments and services which, due to the nature of their activity, cannot interrupt work" such as bakeries delivering to hospitals, penitentiary establishments or nursing homes or those which are the only ones operating in a municipality.

But if a business does not meet these criteria, it can still be open on Labour Day provided that the business owner does not call on his employees and relies only on himself or non-salaried family members.

Otherwise, the employer is liable to a fine of 750 euros per employee concerned, 1.500 euros when the employee is a minor.

"Nobody knew about this rule, nobody!", shouts Romy, 39, manager of the flower shop "A la fée violette" in the center of Orléans for almost 16 years.

The parliamentary text provides that work is now authorized for "local food businesses" such as bakeries, pastry shops, greengrocers, butchers, florists and cultural establishments (cinemas, theaters)... but "excludes" large distribution companies.

"A satisfaction" for Fabrice Collet, owner of the "Maison Collet" bakery in the center of Paris: "It's very good. We will be able to employ people who want to work and who will be paid double without risking a fine," rejoices the craftsman.

Since being fined several thousand euros for employing his staff on May 1st a few years ago, the manager had been constantly hesitating over whether to open his store every year on that date.

An "attack"

But on the union side, this initiative which "attacks" the "only mandatory paid and symbolic public holiday for international workers" is not going down well.

In a joint statement, the inter-union group (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, Unsa, Solidaires and FSU) fears that the "principle (is) being called into question, the exemption is gradually being extended to everyone", citing as an example "Sunday work", which is supposed to be based on volunteering.

"The idea is not to make more people work but to really legally secure what was traditionally done," assures the rapporteur of the bill, LR (Meurthe-et-Moselle) MP Thibault Bazin, interviewed by AFP.

"There is a demand for clarification" from companies, insists the MP, citing the example in his constituency of "florists (who) have sometimes preferred to close for fear of inspections leading to fines, then litigation which takes time, money... before an acquittal".

However, some retailers are less convinced of the usefulness of the measure, such as Aly Coulibaly, director of the "Cul de cochon" grocery stores in Paris: "If we allow work on May 1st then everyone will open and in my street, which is very commercial, it will not bring me anything more in terms of turnover".

Symbolically, the parliamentary initiative, as well as last week's vote to limit transport strikes during certain periods of the year, remain points of contention for social dialogue. Unions, for example, remind everyone that May 1st "commemorates the struggles for workers' rights, from the deadly demonstrations" in France and the United States in the 19th century.