On Thursday, the French government is scheduled to outline a bill that proposes changes that would relax the restriction on a 35-hour workweek. These new reforms could mean that French citizens would put in 12-hour shifts that could amount to as much as a 48-hour workweek. The French government believes that these reforms could lead to increased economic growth in a country that currently has an unemployment rate at around 10%. In addition to changes in the workweek, several other labor rules will become less strict under this bill.
See "France's Government to Present Controversial Labor Reform", The New York Times, March 24, 2016