Re: [tlug] (OT) The enigma of Japan (was: UNIX jobs on TLUG)

[Godwin Stewart <gstewart@example.com>]

On 04/06/09 09:16, JC Helary wrote:

> And as far as I've _experienced_ France in my first decades of life,  
> what hoses the "rest of the people" is those silly Indians (who don't  
> have unions) who happen to accept plants that big business find too  
> expensive in France. Ooops, too expensive _after_ management has been  
> paid huge bonuses for delocalizing the plants...

I can see where you're coming from and I agree that running a business is
too expensive in France.

And before you ask, I have lived and worked in France. For 24 years in fact,
self-employed from February 2002 until October 2007, when I left the country.

France offers exceptional social protection to workers, whether it's in the
form of healthcare, other forms of welfare or rules governing what goes on
in the workplace. This has a price, companies (and employees to a certain
extent)have to foot the bill, assurance maladie, caisse de retraite, URSSAF,
and it is huge. French VAT at 19.6% is also one of the highest in Europe,
only surpassed, I think, by Belgium's at 21%, and France is one of the few
EU countries to levy VAT on foodstuffs, albeit at the lower rate of 5.5%.

While managers may be responsible for some of the cost with huge bonuses,
French company tax and the general economic setup also have their part to
play. For many companies (myself included) it was simply too expensive to
hire personnel. And why does a sole trader have to register as a company too
in the first place?

And before you even get to that stage there are expenses such as mandatory
training courses to attend if your company happens to be relevant to the
chambre de métiers rather than the chambre de commerce. The courses aren't
that expensive in the grand scheme of things unless you have no money
because you're out of work...

The whole system is completely unbalanced in that everything favours the
worker while entrepreneurism is severely discouraged and the company owner
is hammered left, right and centre. Far more so than here in the UK for example.

It's all very well enacting truckloads of laws protecting employees, yet
it's totally pointless if, in doing so, you're doing your level best to
prevent people from employing them in the first place.

Now, it could be argued that unions have shot themselves in the foot by
lobbying for such an unbalanced environment. I would ask how much power
unions actually wield. I've lived in Marseille among other places, and St.
Charles station was always the first to be affected by industrial action.
But what was really achieved? OK, SNCF employees threw a tantrum and stopped
trains running for a few days. Commuters (I was one, before moving to
Marseille I used to work there but live in Toulon) had an excuse for being
late for work and that's it. Work resumed and everything was back to how it
was without anyone actually having promised the railway unions anything
substantial.

As far as France is concerned, I think unions are there for show and not a
lot else.

-- 
G. Stewart - gstewart@example.com

NOTICE:
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