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Union Boss Blames 35 Hour Week for French Snow Chaos
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

As the Rhone-Alpes region was paralysed briefly by between 5 to 20cm of French snow on Friday recriminations have started to fly as to who is to blame. Commuters on their way to work were stranded for 6 hours on Friday on the Lyon to Chambéry autoroute and the 30 minute journey from Chambéry to Grenoble took drivers 3 hours thanks to jack-knifed lorries partially blocking the route. Lorries also blocked many of the exit ramps as they were unable to get up the slopes. The commute time from Voiron, some 25km from Grenoble was over 2 hours, a trip that usually takes just 20 minutes.

Fuming motorists claim that the highways department (DDE) was not ready for such early snow despite an orange alert from the French weather service Météo France. The DDE says motorists were unprepared for the conditions and should have headed warnings not to travel They claim they had some 650 gritting trucks and snow ploughs out since the early hours but the boss of the Confédération Générale du Travail who represents some of the DDEs employees has backed motorists claims that it was too little, too late. He says the DDE can’t cope with unusual events such as early snow thanks to the 35 hour week. Between time off and an inability to impose overtime there are simply not enough trained agents available. He called on the DDE to hire more staff – the original aim of the shorter working week. However French labour laws which make it next to impossible to fire civil servants and hard to sack private sector workers mean that employers have been extremely reluctant to take on new staff. Unfortunately road clearance is one area they have not been able to outsource to the far-east.

Residents of mountain areas have complained that road clearance has got much worse since the introduction of the 35 hour week. In Briançon they say that the vital Lauteret road pass can be left for days without being cleared, something that was unthinkable 20 years ago.

Source: Information from French press
snow conditions
snow conditions
 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

Do they ever use the excuse "It's the wrong kind of snow" in France?
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ski holidays



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