An exemption already existed, but AOP and IGP farmers can now use it outside of “exceptional circumstances” if their harvest is done by hand. Employee advocates point to the increased risk of workplace accidents, with less rest during periods of high heat.
“There will be more deaths at work!” On X, the MEP for La France insoumise (LFI) Anthony Smith, also a former labour inspector, draws attention to a decree issued by the Ministry of Labour on Tuesday 9 July, and published in the Official Journal on Wednesday. According to him, the decree allows “to suspend the weekly rest during the grape harvest” for agricultural workers.
An indignation shared by many Internet users and other elected officials. The LFI deputy of Seine-Saint-Denis Thomas Portes, on X, denounces “a scandalous decision that endangers the lives of thousands of workers”, “while last summer several seasonal workers died during the grape harvest, particularly due to the heatwave”. Is this interpretation correct?
Normally, agricultural workers are entitled to a full day of rest on Sunday, as well as a guaranteed rest period of at least 11 hours per day, according to Article L714-1 of the Rural and Maritime Fishing Code. But this article also lists situations in which employers can deviate from these rights.
For example, “in exceptional circumstances, in particular work which cannot be postponed, weekly rest may be suspended for a limited period”. The employees concerned must benefit “of a rest of a duration equal to the rest removed” selected “from a common agreement” with the employer.
Is the grape harvest part of these “exceptional circumstances” ? Winegrowers believe that yes, on the grounds that they must take place over a specific and reduced shooting window of less than 20 days, with a significant mobilization of labor and hand picking. “Every year, before the harvest, the sector [champenoise] had to obtain an exemption allowing the adaptation of the weekly rest day imposed by the Labor Code”explain several elected officials from the presidential camp of Marne sur X.
However, this exceptional nature of the harvests could be contested by the authorities. In the Grand Est, the regional directorate of the economy, employment, work and solidarity (DREETS) for example imposed several thousand euros in fines on companies in the Champagne vineyard, Anthony Smith explains to franceinfo.
This “restrictive legal interpretation” constitutes a “uncertainty” problematic legal situation for winegrowers, in the eyes of elected officials in the Marne. “There was an antagonism between national rules and local exemptions, we are the only region that harvests by hand, the quality of the harvest cannot be dependent on a rule that does not correspond to a specific situation”explains to France 3 Grand Est Xavier Albertini, Horizons MP for Marne.
It is to officially guarantee this possibility that the government has issued this decree. Among the “works whose execution cannot be postponed”, the text includes “harvests carried out manually in accordance with specifications linked to a controlled designation of origin [AOC] or a protected geographical indication [IGP]”. In short, Sunday harvests are authorized for wines among the 363 AOC and 76 IGP produced in France whose grapes are harvested by hand… but also potentially other AOP and IGP products harvested manually, such as Espelette pepper. (PDF) or the sweet onion of the Cévennes.
The decree does not therefore directly remove the weekly rest, but guarantees farmers producing protected designations of origin harvested manually to be able to do so without having to request an exemption. Speaking to franceinfo, MEP Anthony Smith considers that there is no difference: “If they can decide it themselves, they all will!”
“We are pleased that our commitment to pragmatism and regulatory simplification is bearing fruit”greet on X the four elected officials of the Marne, who speak of the lifting of a “brake for our winegrowers”However, they are still theoretically required to grant compensatory rest. “of a duration equal to the rest removed”as required by Article L714-1.
MEP Anthony Smith, on the other hand, denounces a text “suicidal”. “Weekly rest is essential for agricultural workers to recover, especially during the grape harvest, which is extremely hard work, spent bent over, cutting grapes by hand, in the heat or rain…”warns the former labor inspector for franceinfo.
“You have workers who are going to find themselves with a working time of 120 hours over 14 days! The absence of rest time, added to the hardship and the duration of the work, is suicidal.”
Anthony Smith, LFI MEPto franceinfo
At least four workers died in the Marne during the grape harvest in the summer of 2023. The only death to have been the subject of a thorough investigation, that of a 19-year-old man on September 8, after a heart attack, had been caused by high temperatures, according to the General Directorate of Labor. At the time, the Minister of Labor, Catherine Vautrin, had deplored to the daily A “drama (…) absolutely terrible” and called to “take into account” heat risk for agricultural workers.
“This decree is in total contradiction with the minister’s previous statements,” castigates Anthony Smith, who denounces “a fully political decision, given that the government was defeated at the polls and should simply be dealing with current affairs.” Contacted on this subject, as well as on the technical aspects of the case, the Ministry of Labor did not respond.
The decree officially sets a limit to the abolition of Sunday rest: “The weekly rest of employees may be suspended once at most in a period of 30 days.” A “fiction” in the context of the grape harvest, Anthony Smith believes, because these harvests do not exceed this duration. He criticizes the very logic of the text: “What’s so exceptional about the grape harvest? It happens every year.”