Travailler à contretemps

This paper starts from a field-work survey in a Parisian department store, to focus on the conflicts caused by the lengthening of working hours in the stores. Our first aim is to analyze how the question of non-standard working hours (Sundays, bank holidays, late evenings) is dealt with or imposed on the personnel. Our second aim is, on the one hand, to assess the way in which the personnel cope with this “necessity” and, on the other hand, to shed light on the difficulties that the unions face when handling such a thorny issue. Indeed, what may be supported as an agreement in principle may not necessarily be in keeping with what the employees do