While the federation of boulangeries asked to be able to open seven days a week in Loire-Atlantique, the justice has kept to the current operation.
The Administrative Court of Nantes rejected the application of the Federation of Bakery Enterprises (FEB), which wanted to repeal the prefectural order requiring, since 1995 , boulangeries, bakeries and pastry shops in the Loire-Atlantique to close at least a day a week. As a reminder, this employers’ union says it represents “about 80%” of the sector of bakery, pastry and pastry (BVP), the main chains of bakeries. Its ” 260 members ” generate “ 8.5 billion turnover “, including” 2 billion in export “, recalls the federation.
“This decree no longer corresponds to the will of the majority of professionals involved,” argued the lawyer FEB. “The signatories of the agreement of March 6, 1995 are today a minority . It involved, in this case, Force Ouvrière , the CFTC , the CFDT and the Federation of bakers and bakers-confectioners of the Loire-Atlantique. The prefecture of Loire-Atlantique argued that such a repeal could only take place “at the request of the trade union or professional organizations expressing the will of the majority of the members of the profession”.
However, according to a “new consultation” made by the Regional Directorate of Enterprises, Competition, Consumption, Labor and Employment (Direccte), the compulsory weekly closure corresponds to “an indisputable will of the majority of the occupation “. “To demonstrate that this agreement no longer reflects the opinion of the majority, the applicant federation is limited to producing a table on the census of sales outlets in the department,” says the Administrative Court of Nantes.
The arguments did not weigh
The Loire-Atlantique is not the only department in France where such a prefectural decree has been contested. The Federation of bakery companies resulting successful in several departments, as in the Finistère . “In a tense economic climate for bakers and confectioners, who are being hit hard by the rise in the price of raw materials (butter, eggs, etc.) and the weight of taxation , this sector still faces too much obsolete regulatory constraints that are holding back its growth. “, Justifies the FEB.
According to a survey conducted by Ifop in July 2017 , “nearly 87%” of those polled find it “important to be able to find bread near where they want it”. Nearly 56% of respondents would “favor the freedom to undertake” and “leave the choice to bakers to open when they want.”
