French lose bank holiday to pay for elderly

The french must work an extra day each year, they learnt yesterday, to finance aid for the elderly to prevent a repeat of last summer's heat-wave disaster in which 15,000 old people died.

The french must work an extra day each year, they learnt yesterday, to finance aid for the elderly to prevent a repeat of last summer's heat-wave disaster in which 15,000 old people died.

All state employees will lose their Pentecost (Whit Monday) bank holiday from 2005. Workers in the private sector must agree, after negotiations with employers, to give up any bank holiday or rest day.

The value of the extra labour will be given to the state as a 0.3 per cent tax on employers, which will be put into a special fund for the elderly and handicapped. The tax will also apply to capital gains but it remains unclear how self-employed workers, from farmers to doctors, will be expected to contribute.

Trades unions and employers called the scheme a bureaucratic nightmare in the making. While France was cutting taxes and had just reduced working hours by earlier pieces of legislation, it was now increasing taxes and working time by another.

But opinion polls have shown the idea of abolishing one day's holiday to finance a solidarity fund for "dependent people" is supported by more than 80 per cent of French people. "Last summer, our country was deeply wounded by the effects of the heatwave," the Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, said yesterday. "These sad and painful events impose a duty of action on behalf of the elderly."

The scrapping of one day's holiday is expected to raise €9bn (£6bn) over five years, which will create 10,000 new places in state-run old people's homes, 17,000 new jobs for home-helps for the elderly and handicapped and 13,000 new places in day-care centres.

The heat took a dreadful toll of the elderly in France in August. Many had been left at home while their families went on holiday and understaffed retirement homes and hospitals were unable to cope with the sheer numbers of people stricken by temperatures of 100F (37.8C).

Information leaked last week said the government had originally decided to abolish the Pentecost bank holiday for everyone. M. Raffarin, incensed by the leak, changed the plan to allow much more flexibility in the private sector.