Does The Truth Hurt?

[DangerUXD]

"They get one hour for breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three. I told this to the French union workers to their faces. They told me that's the French way!"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21530619
Even the French admit to being lazy so why moan about someone being honest?

[jake-the-peg]

And the problem with having an hour for lunch is.....?

Seriously - we're meant to take this at face value because it fits our stereotype of the French?

A bit like we accept that earlier one about Americans being stupid?

Whilst the Americans and French are making jokes about Brits being bad in bed and having lousy teeth?

What are we 5?

[seadogg]

Better be nice to them as they own large chunks of the British economy and EDF will be needed to help sort our energy gap in the near future.

[FredPuli43]

Do the French regard themselves as lazy, as you suggest, UXD? Last I looked their workforce was as productive as America's but working fewer hours.

What they have in some places is what the American motor industry had in Detroit, unions that had engineered themselves ludicrously generous packages of pay and conditions and who regarded themselves as the real bosses. We're not unfamiliar with that in this country. When competition gets fierce or demand drops, the place becomes bankrupt and looks to the government for help. But nobody will buy it whilst those working practices and terms prevail. This factory is in the motor industry, note.

[Gromit]

If USA workers are so much better, why are all their televisions, computers, printers, phones all made in China?

[DTCwordfan]

what Fred says in right, Ford had 28 suites of bath/changing rooms on their massive site in Dearborn, near Detroit, each with a steward, a job of a senior union official, each one being paid $135,000 per year, so much that they contracted in folk to do the actual job.

What a lovely overhead to be carrying and just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

[ichkeria]

It's refreshing to hear someone stand up to these idiots and be proud of their culture. An hour for lunch? Whatever next!
I've more respect for an attitude that focuses on the quality of the output and isn't a slave to the clock. Long hours is no virtue.

[FredPuli43]

According to a French correspondent, Fiacra Gibbons, writing a column in the Guardian, the workers in this particular factory were only working three hours a day; they were on short time because of the recession. That would explain why the American executive could identify three hours' work in six ,rather than saying the men spent six hours to get three hours' worth of production by working very slowly

[FredPuli43]

By the way, it's surprising if a French worker took only an hour for lunch. Even today, the two hour break for lunch is common. But even the basic worker eats in some style.I had builders in to renovate my home in France and was amused to find herbs growing on a window sill. The men had brought pots of them in so they had fresh stuff growing to add to their daily meal.