San Francisco Frontiers - Crumbs! Should French bakeries open on May 1?

But perhaps not on May 1, a national holiday where bakers have complained of unannounced labour inspections, fines and even prosecution if they dare open on the traditional workers' day off.

There is legal confusion around whether bakeries can open on May 1, with different rulings and various loopholes.

But five bakers from the western Vendee region were hauled before court for violating the rules on May 1, 2024 after being caught in a labour inspection, in a case that gained wide media attention in France. They were all acquitted last week.

The government is now backing legislation that would make it clear that bakeries and similar businesses, such as florists, can open on May 1 so long as employees come to work voluntarily.

"The government will support this initiative because it protects the rights of citizens and meets the expectations of bakers and other essential workers," Labour and Health Minister Catherine Vautrin told AFP, emphasising that an employee's presence that day needed to be "voluntary".

"This text is not limited to bakers: it will bring clarity and legal certainty for all the professions concerned," she added days ahead of this year's holiday on Thursday.

- 'Legal absurdity' -

Centrist senators in France's upper house Senate are introducing the bill that aims to the adapt "the law to the realities on the ground", according to the text seen by AFP.

It would allow essential businesses to open on May 1 in a similar fashion to how they are already allowed to open on a Sunday.

"This is in no way calls into question the public holiday and non-working nature of this day, but recognises the specific nature of certain activities -- like bakeries or florists -- which play an integral part in our daily lives and our cultural heritage," said the bill's backers the centrist senators Annick Billon and Herve Marseille.

They hope to have it placed on the Senate's agenda "before the end of June."

However the hardline CGT trade union had said it opposed "any questioning of the public holiday and non-working status of May 1" and backed the labour inspectorate's agents "who intervene to ensure it is respected."

The right-wing Journal du Dimanche on Sunday called the current situation a "legal absurdity".

Some bakeries have been able to open to the public on May 1 due to a loophole meaning that businesses supplying institutions like prisons or care homes can sell bread to customers.

The head of the bakery could also open alone without using any staff.

But if deemed by labour inspectors to be in violation of the labour code the fines are ruinous for a business where margins are tight, ranging from 750 euros per regular employee to up to 1,500 euros when the worker is a minor.

Fabrice Collet, owner of the Maison Collet bakery in central Paris, told AFP earlier this month that every year he asked himself the same question: "To open or not to open on May 1?"

He has been inspected and fined for several years but said sales are brisker than usual.

"I might sell 1,300 traditional baguettes on May 1, compared to the usual 800. Last year, we sold 1,000 pastries, compared to 360 on a normal day," he said.

G.Miller--SFF