The decision was expected, it was announced Tuesday by Elisabeth Borne, the Minister of Labor, after a videoconference with union and employer representatives. Wearing a mask will be compulsory in all "closed and shared" workspaces, even in the presence of Plexiglas, from September 1st. While some business leaders welcome a clarification on the subject, while the coronavirus epidemic is on the rise in France, others see it as a new source of constraints.
"For several days, employees have been asking themselves many questions, at least now it's clear," comments to Europe 1 Christophe Laguerre, boss of a company of forty employees in the chemicals sector and based near Rouen.
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This entrepreneur is all the more satisfied because he had noticed that barrier gestures and distancing were less and less respected. "For the past month, we have realized in the company that when people take their break they are much closer to each other." A relaxation that seems to be accentuated with the return from vacation, he notes, as the French wanted at all costs to leave behind the crisis of March-April. "Finally, the mask is timely to compensate for this difficulty in enforcing social distancing."
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"We're going to have to do the police"
But the obligation to wear a mask at work is greeted with much less enthusiasm by Eric Cantarel, also the boss of an SME of around forty employees in Oray, in Essonne. He deplores these terms and conditions which change every month without having enough arguments to justify them to his teams. "We will have to explain again, the employees will be unhappy and will have to work in difficult conditions," he annoys. "I do not know what will do people who are on the phone all day. For those who are on physical work, it is really restrictive. We will have to police," laments Eric Cantarel.
The two business leaders, however, agree on one subject: no problem to cover the cost of the masks, it is up to them to ensure the safety of their employees.