Hotel Matignon, the humble abode of the French Prime minister, June 7, 1936: The scratchy sound of signatures being put on paper; negotiations between the employers’ organization, the workers’ unions and the French state have come to an end. The parties got together 3 PM the day before, and surprisingly swift they have reached the Matignon Agreements, that from thereon will be referred to as the “Magna Carta of French Labor”.
They had to be quick: France was lame thanks a general strike which had started on May 26, and in the last few days more than a million workers had joined. The French do love their strikes, and the legal right to strike is one of the main pillars of the 1936 agreements overseen by then prime minister Léon Blum – and so is a two-week holiday.
The latter sentiment of the Matignon Agreements spread like wildfire. The same year, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) adopted the Holidays with Pay Convention – which established a minimum standard of 6 working days of paid leave per year. And the year after, Switzerland followed suite. Nineteen employers' associations and the trade union, all connected with the watch industry, signed an agreement (to end an impending strike that threatened to spread throughout the entire watchmaking industry) ensuring six days of holiday, thus making the watch industry the first in Switzerland with a collective employment agreement.
After the second World War people felt like one or two weeks of holidays was not enough, and it only took another few decades of negotiations (and strikes, of course) for a widespread standard of 4 weeks per year. Interestingly, the United States remains the only advanced economy without a federal law mandating paid vacation. Instead, this huge country with a work force of roughly 170 million people relies on private employer offerings.
The Watchmakers’ holiday is still a thing in the industry today. Although it is not as rigidly implemented as it used to be, the Convention Patronale (the employers’ organization) issues a recommendation every year on the duration and timing of the annual holiday. This recommendation is published a year in advance, and in 2026 the Swiss watch factories in Geneva, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Valée de Joux, and elsewhere stop ticking for three weeks from July 20 until August 10. (Employees have by law a minimum of four weeks, and are recommended to save one week or take it before or after the watchmakers’ holiday.
Until now I have been freelancing my whole life. So, to be able to go on a paid, three-week watchmakers’ holiday as of Friday feels unreal. As I am writing this, all I know is that the holidays will include family time, beach time, cooking, and vineyards. I might, if my toddler son allows, even open a book. What more could one possibly ask for?
And I live like I learn – there will be no letters in the coming three weeks.
Happy Holidays!
