MARTA NASCIMIENTO/REA for TIME NIGHT SCHOOL: In Rennes, bus lines linking the university campus to downtown night life now run until 4.30 a.m.

How Very French

Posted Sunday, April 14, 2002; 15.05GMT
The country that brought you the five-week vacation and the 35-hour workweek has embraced another concept to make life more pleasant: the Bureau des Temps, or Time Bureau, being set up by cities across the country with the aim of reducing urban stress by synchronizing public and private services with the hectic lifestyles of today's city dwellers. To many outside France this may sound like bureaucratic folly. But the French are turning to government to tinker with bus and train times, work schedules, child-care hours, even "happy hour" opera performances. "The way we organize our time affects our jobs and our family life," says Danièle Touchard, head of the bureau in the western city of Rennes. "If we can get rid of even little aggravations, that can improve someone's quality of life." So committed is the city's Socialist mayor and parliamentarian Edmond Hervé that he has recommended Bureaux des Temps for all French municipalities with populations over 20,000.

In Rennes, the initiative grew out of a determination to tackle gender inequalities by making it easier for working women to juggle home and career. The city began with its own 4,000 municipal employees. "We figured that if we wanted to convince the private sector, we'd have to get our own house in order first," recalls Touchard. Among the initial beneficiaries were 269 of the city's office cleaning ladies, whose working schedules were adjusted so that everyone could be home for dinner. For its executives, the municipality banned outside meetings after 4 p.m. on Fridays. To accommodate the city's nearly 60,000 university students, bus lines linking the campus with downtown night life now run until 4:30 a.m.

Not everyone appreciates such well-intended measures, however. Some civil servants and labor unions are suspicious of efforts to rejigger work schedules, unless they include additional hirings. And business leaders say the country's 35-hour workweek experiment has already reduced their operating flexibility. "I fear this is one more layer of bureaucracy," says Maurice Chauvin, president of Rennes' Union du Commerce. The Bureau des Temps concept has spread to eight other urban areas, including Lille, Nancy, Paris and Poitiers. Fans say Bureaux des Temps can help solve labor issues by bringing local officials, employers, unions and members of the public together to hash out solutions before disagreements escalate. Given the French tradition of taking social grievances to the streets, that may be the most novel innovation yet.

	Season Of The Strike [May 19, 2003] In spring, France's thoughts turn to walkouts. But this year labor leaders are divided over the wisdom of blocking the government's pension reforms. Can France Put a Cork In It? [April 28, 2003] With U.S. boycotts hurting French wine exports, Chirac and winemakers alike are trying to make amends Speedy's Race Against Crime [Dec. 2, 2002] 'We mustn't scorn those who suffer daily insecurity by accusing them of having become intolerant.' "France Is Not a Pacifist Country" [Feb. 16, 2003] Chirac tells TIME of his objection to war and his love of American junk food The French Opposition [Sep. 16, 2002] Will the Left Be Left Behind? More Related Items | Search all issues of TIME Magazine