France does May Day properly. Selling of baguettes is banned for the day
The Times (& tbh where else, given its very long standing obsession with French food) reports that France’s 3,535 workplace inspectors are cracking down on bakeries that open on May Day and make employees work.
There is a fine of 750 Euros for each worker at work on May Day. The remit includes bakeries and the selling of baguettes. Essential activities are allowed to continue including transport and of course cafes and restaurants.
The Chair of France’s National Bakery Confederation has complained about the enforced closure of France’s 34,000 bakeries describing the country as the ‘Land of Bread’
However the General Secretary of the CGT union said that a day off on May 1st is a ‘fundamental right’ noting that the Socialist International met in Paris in 1890 to declare May Day a day off in memory of the 1886 Chicago Martyrs.
Meanwhile Britain will have an official Bank Holiday on May 5th when baguettes will still be available, although not up to French standards clearly.
I’m not sure the Times report should be taken too seriously (like much else in the Murdoch owned paper) but a tradition of taking May Day seriously remains a good one.
the biggest problem that it will hit the smaller artisanal boulangeries… not the big boys