As with most tidbits of French culture, I am a little confused about this too. So don't quote me, but I was told that after something like 70,000 people in Europe and maybe 2000 people in France, mostly elderly died from heatstroke in the "canicule" of 2003, the french solution was to enact a law in 2004 requiring everyone to increase the work year by one extra day to generate a fund for the care of the elderly. The idea was that every worker would work one day per year for the solidarity fund and the salary generated would go to care of the elderly. Then I was told that the day that was chosen for the "solidarity day" was Whit Monday, the Monday after Pentecost.
Well, so yesterday, Lundi de Pentecote when the banks, post office, and most businesses were closed and there was no trash pick-up, I thought, "so much for the suffering old people of France. There won't be much in the hopper in July." I didn't find more than one or two people working yesterday!
But, now that I have done a little more research, I have found that in the glorious french tradition, folks have become much more creative in how they comply with the 2004 law requiring a day's contribution.
Apparently, SNCF(transportation workers)work one "extra minute" every work day. (Don't even think about what that means to their 35 hour work week, and that extra minute of over-time, which likely gets charged as time and a half.) Teachers choose another day during the school year that coincides with an "in-service" day or maybe extend their Saturday schedule to a full day. At an airplane engine manufacturing center the first shift workers work 3/4 of a day, and the rest of the shifts are off, so I am not sure how that works out for the pot, but maybe those other workers pick a different day.
Of course, I am not sure how or who keeps track of all this. I didn't see headlines thanking the workers who did contribute this day, so maybe no one is keeping track. Surely a thank you is in order. Of course if one were really cynical you could say we all do this everyday for one cause or expense or another because we are taxed on whatever percentage of our income, which theoretically goes to pay for these services, but the concept is pretty cool, and it is a pretty easy way for people to give.
Can you imagine the power of everyone in the world collectively designating one day, or even one extra hour for world hunger? What if we all contributed an hour's pay to Mercy Corps or to Habitat to build more houses, or to buy electric fans? I think that is a cool vision.
And, just to tie this in with the Holidays in France theme, this Monday holiday is the 6th possible day off of work this May (out of 23 possible work days)for those who were counting. And,despite the fact that this past Monday was called Whit Monday and derives its importance from the Christian holy day of Pentecost (Lundi de Pentecote) there should be no confusion that France, or any of the other European countries who were shut down yesterday for Whit Monday, celebrates "religious" holidays any more than the US does.
