Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said the changes were aimed at restoring the work ethic in France and improving its sluggish economic performance by encouraging people to earn more by working more…He said the change was vital to keep the French economy competitive and to create more jobs...Employers said the 35-hour week, introduced in 1998, had failed to create jobs and was uncompetitive…the changes will allow workers to work up to 48 hours a week - the maximum allowed by the European Union.(1)This is a perfect example of how capital valorizes itself, how capital begets capital. Now capital is produced through the production of surplus value, a process that can go either of two ways – the production of absolute surplus value or the production of relative surplus value. Absolute surplus value is produced through the elongation of the working day while relative surplus value is produced through the increase in productivity of labor.
An example is that the working day is 8 hours, the necessary labor time is the amount the laborer has to work to produce the equivalent value of their wage. Under capital this time is always less than is actually worked, for as labor power is the only commodity that produces value – machines merely transfer value from themselves to the commodities, they do not produce additional value – if the worker stopped producing at the equivalent of their wage there would be no surplus value for the capitalist – the owner of the means of production.
Therefore, the excess labor the worker expends past the amount of time necessary to reproduce their wage value in commodities is labeled as surplus labor time – during this time the commodities produced are combined together and become the surplus value. Consequently, the elongation of the working day is one way to produce more surplus value, as the wage paid out will not be equal to the value of the commodities produced. The capitalist would not push to extend the working day if it was not in their favor.
Another tactic is relative surplus value – increased productivity. An example of which is where the worker now produces in two hours what they used to produce in three hours. They are paid the same amount, but must produce more commodities in the same amount of time. Meaning, that they now produce more surplus value in the same time than they used to, due to mechanization.
Yes, France is beset by several economic problems, one being a labor problem, another a capital problem, the former being unemployment which is hovering around 10% and the latter being rigid hiring and firing regulations which are blamed by industry for preventing corporations from easily hiring and firing labor, which industry argues produces the high unemployment levels. Additionally, industry attacks these labor laws for limiting innovation and growth.
These arguments leave out the facts that the French welfare model is much more supportive and plush compared to the U.S. welfare model – which is almost non-existent. Moreover, capital wants and needs flexible and cheap labor and so desires as little labor protection and regulation laws as possible, for these labor laws limit the exploitation of labor by capital. Implicit within this argument is the assumption that economic growth and innovation is always good – but one must ask good for whom? What standards are we judging economic growth by – nuclear proliferation, pollution levels, GDP, profit levels?
And so what is the solution to unemployment and supposed lack of competitiveness on productivity levels: INCREASE WORKING HOURS!!!
Now this defies most logic for the workers, while it may benefit a small number of individual workers it will negatively harm the workers collectively, it gives in to capital’s desire for surplus-value through an increase in ASV – absolute surplus-value - an increase in the total working day. Corporations benefit because they can now have their current workers work longer hours and avoid the hiring of new employers whose costs are more than the mere regular or overtime pay the current worker would receive, because a new worker would get benefits and other costs that are tacked onto their wages, new increases which are not incurred through the elongation of exploitation of the current worker.
In addition, the elongation of working hours actually directly maintains the current unemployment rate, especially within that industry, for instead of hiring new workers to fill up the required working hours they now force their current workers to work longer. This is where the movement for shorter hours, higher wages comes in. So capital wants to elongate working hours, mechanize, or automate to increase productivity levels. The workers response should be yes, but we will work less as a result, for this increase in productivity, spurred by the desire to decrease costs of production, will result in layoffs which will increase the unemployment levels and decrease the wages of the current workers – as increasing unemployment tends to decrease wages due to higher supply and lower demand. By saying they will work less they allow for the increase in productivity while not increasing the unemployment rate and maintaining their wage or salary level.
For instance, if 7 workers reduce their work week from 40 to 35 hours a week, there is now one more 35 hour work week position available. Imagine this taking place on a large scale, wages are relatively maintained, workers can work less, unemployment decreases and production levels increase. The one problem is that for this movement to work it needs to be inclusive and global, which is a major hurdle, but not one that should detract us from its pursuit, the shorter hours, higher wages movement had its birth in the U.S. and needs to be revived as a sound and plausible theory for social change.
Restoring the work ethic, come on, last time I checked people did not want to work more because they enjoyed their jobs, but because they needed the extra money – does this not signify that maybe the jobs do not pay enough and it is a tactic of capital’s to underpay their employers so they are forced to take overtime or work longer hours to earn enough money to survive and thereby maintain the current unemployment levels, which continues to depress the wages or salary of their job. If the workers created a tight labor market through shorter hours – higher wages then workers could get the best of both worlds. Most people do not like to think of being exploited, it is not top on the list of things one wants to do on a daily basis; the whole concept of a work ethic and working longer hours is ridiculous. The language of the work ethic and uncompetitiveness is the language of capital and is a race to the bottom for the worker.
To see labor's response to these and previous attacks on the rights and lives of workers, to see their show of refusal and their collective power, check out these news articles, (2), (3), (4), (5)
Freedom and the ability for security, stability and self-determination are not gained in a day nor given to you, it must be obtained through struggle.
Labor will not put up without a fight!
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