what is it like a french workweek a debate over the 35hour workweek in france creditdmitry kostyukov for the new york timesdec 12 2015hambach france on a drizzly afternoon in october mathis cdric buzzed around the kitchen of his small alsatian restaurant in hambach france a bucolic town near the german border it was lunchtime and workers from a nearby smart car factory would soon be filtering in to grab the daily special of sauerkraut and sausages before heading to their afternoon shifttypically when the workers gathered around the small tables the atmosphere was chatty but lately a pall has hung over the conversationto lift competitiveness the bosses at smart owned by the german auto giant daimler had asked the plants 800 employees to vote on whether they would be willing take a pay cut and temporarily abandon the cherished 35hour workweek which had long prevailed at smart and every other business in france in return smart hambachs biggest employer would guarantee their jobs for five yearsto mr cdric the answer seemed clear for the sake of the factory if not the town the workers should agree to the deal but smarts proposal had opened a rift inside the plant and with the factorys powerful unions rumors flew that smart might be closed if an accord was not reachedthis is on everyones minds its the no 1 fear mr cdric said frankly i dont understand why some of them dont want to do a little more to save jobs i work 40 hours just on the weekend he added but i guess people want to hold on to what theyve gotthis week after a threemonth fight led by the unions the workers will have one last chance to agree to change their contracts to allow a longer workweek which would start in january the unions that oppose the change are still resisting but philippe steyer smarts director of human resources said he expected at least threequarters of smarts employees to accept the changemore than 15 years after frances 35hour workweek became law the showdown at smart which has captured headlines nationwide is a vivid reminder that the measure is still a social and political lightning rod at smart and many other companies employers say the rule and other rigid labor laws make france one of the most expensive places in europe to do businessto the outside world france appears to be one of the most laidback places anywhere to work an impression that even made its way to one of the republican presidential debatesi mean literally the senate what is it like a french workweek jeb bush asked senator marco rubio recently accusing him of a slack work ethic you get like three days where you have to show upin reality the 35hour workweek has become mostly symbolic because a multitude of loopholes allow companies to work around the law french employees work an average of 405 hours a week more than the 40hour average in the european union and