May 1st out of tradition for 2020

This year, an unusual May 1st due to confinement linked to the coronavirus. The eternal May Day parade is canceled this year in France and elsewhere, meetings on the public highway are prohibited. Lily of the valley will have a little more luck since the florists will be able to deliver it after order taken by internet or telephone. Similarly, shops open for essential purchases will have the right to sell thrush. However, street sales are prohibited. The containment is a blow for the horticultural sector as underlined by the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron during the ceremony of handing-over of lily of the valley by the President of Semmaris, Stéphane Layani at the Elysée in the presence of the Minister of the ‘agriculture, Didier Guillaume No authorization to walk in the woods and pick the bells of happiness; the only possible place to harvest will be his garden. For the French, this May 1st will be synonymous with a fall in the regulated gas tariff which for the past 1 year has suffered an almost uninterrupted fall, ie -0.3% for cooking, -0.7% for dual use and -1.3 % for heating. The price of fuels will also be down: -12.70% for the gas cylinder, ie € 2.21 less; the price of a liter of unleaded fuel will drop to 1.09 €, compared to 1.24 € (down 15 cents) and diesel will drop 8 cents, down to 0.88 € per liter. On the other hand, the expected decrease in regulated notary fees has been postponed to 2021 for real estate acquisitions or PACS, however their fees will drop by 1.9% for the drafting of a will for example. Other significant decreases: the release and the civil solidarity pact (PACS) concluded by notarial act (-130 €). The planned changes in employee savings and retirement pensions are also postponed. The basic pensions will therefore remain unchanged. Concerning low-income families, an exceptional aid premium linked to the pandemic should be paid to them by CAF on May 15. This assistance depends on the composition of the household and the benefits affected.

The measures taken following the closure of crèches and educational establishments during confinement have ended. The exemption from childcare leave scheme becomes a partial activity for employees on sick leave for this reason. The 90% of gross compensation for the period from March 12 to April 30 will be replaced by 70% of gross salary according to the rules of the exceptional partial unemployment scheme (100% of the salary for employees paid at minimum wage. Vulnerable people or living with they are also subject to the partial unemployment scheme.

The unemployed at the end of their rights are extended in May due to the number of people in difficulty because of the Covid19 For the most modest households who have Engie for electricity supplier (almost 600,000 households, according to the company): 2 months d subscription must be automatically reimbursed if they have received an energy check, a certificate accompanying the energy check, or assistance from the solidarity fund for housing between January 1, 2019 and March 31, 2020, and having an active electricity contract with Engie on April 30, 2020, subscribed before April 1, 2020,

The reimbursement of the Navigo Pass for April and the first ten days of May is provided for Ile-de-France travelers (request on a dedicated platform, put online at the end of May.)

Another novelty, it concerns people wishing to acquire a drone. From now on, for any purchase of a drone weighing more than 800 grams, it must be equipped with an electronic and luminous recognition system in order to locate it more easily in the middle of the night and to distinguish it from other flying devices (For aircraft purchased and registered before May 1, you have until November 1 to equip it under penalty of a fine of € 750). The origin of the May Day celebration is very old and varies from place to place. For the Celts, it was an opportunity to mark the transition from the dark season to the light season. The druids lit fires to symbolically protect the cattle. This holiday was opposed to that marking the return to Darkness (our All Saints’ Day). In the east of France and in Germany, one speaks about « Night of the Witches ». Only the May tree remains particularly present in Bavaria. In 1886, a union movement was born in Chicago on May 1 to demand an 8-hour work day. 400,000 workers paralyzed the country for 4 days and 10 people died. Three years later, for the centenary of the French Revolution, the congress of the 2nd International Socialist in Paris decides to give May 1 the title of “ International Workers’ Day ”aiming for an 8-hour day. The « Red Triangle » symbol of 8 hours of work, 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of leisure is then de rigueur. It will be replaced by a wild rose in honor of a woman carrying this flower killed during a demonstration. In 1919, France adopted the law establishing the 8-hour day and May 1 was declared exceptionally a non-working day. In 1936, May 1 fell between the two rounds of the legislative elections, it was left-wing cohalition (SFIO, PCF , radicals and various left) which prevails, it is the beginning of the Popular Front which accepts the 40 hours, the first two weeks of the paid vacation and the recognition of the trade union rights. The Vichy regime formalizes May 1, instituted on April 24, 1941 and named at that time “Labor Day and Social Concord” and in 1947, the government of the Liberation officially confirmed May 1 as Labor Day, day holiday and paid. May 1 is also the occasion to celebrate Joan of Arc, before it was celebrated on May 8, the day she liberated Orleans in 1429.

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VERONIQUE YANG

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