Patterns of Working Hours in Large-Scale Grocery Retailing in Britain and France: Convergence after 1992?

Abstract

As 1992 approaches, a major question being raised is to what extent the development of the Single European Market will allow the integration of societies and economies with different structures, laws and traditions, and encourage the convergence of organisational and institutional patterns across member states. This article explores this question by examining patterns of working hours in large-scale grocery retailing in two member states - Britain and France. Based on comparative fieldwork carried out in 1986 and 1987 it shows that patterns of working hours currently differ in terms of patterns of part-time hours (levels of use, length of contracts, shift lengths and patterns) and the types of flexibility in working hours, and seeks to explain these differences in terms of the differing social policies and industrial relations frameworks relating to part-time work and to working hours more generally in the two countries. The article speculates on the possible effect of the Single European Market on large-scale grocery retailing as part of a wider assessment of factors likely to influence patterns of working hours in this sector after 1992. It finds that there are indeed pressures towards convergence, particularly affecting Britain, as a result of commercial, technological and European social policy measures with major implications for employers and for women's patterns of employment. It suggests, however, that in the short to medium term past national specificities will continue to maintain the differences found.