PARIS, May 15: Millions of French workers are expected to stay at home on Monday, ignoring a government decision to scrap the traditional Pentecost public holiday to generate funds to improve healthcare for the elderly. Mass defiance of the government will deal a new blow to the authority of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and President Jacques Chirac, two weeks before a referendum on the European Union constitution which polls show the government could lose.

The row over the holiday has served as a lightning rod for opposition to the constitution. The latest opinion poll by the Ifop research group showed the charter’s opponents are again ahead of its backers, by a margin of 54 per cent to 46 per cent. “The great day of solidarity foreseen for Monday, May 16 has become a social and political imbroglio (mess),” Le Monde newspaper said in an editorial in its Sunday edition.

France’s cash-strapped government hopes taxes on Monday’s production will generate an extra 2 billion euros ($2.57 billion) to be spent on healthcare for the aged. In 2003, the government was criticised for being unprepared and not acting fast enough to save lives when an August heatwave killed 15,000 people, most of them elderly.

By dumping what was one of 11 public holidays, Raffarin had hoped to avoid raising taxes on individuals, but now faces a backlash over what unions call a “day of free work”.

An Ifop poll published on Sunday showed 55 per cent of employees plan not to work on Monday. Another poll last week found two-thirds of people oppose the government’s decision.

Ifop found 28 per cent of respondents plan to take the day off, while 13 per cent cannot work because their company is not working. Fourteen per cent have decided to strike for the day.

FEARS OF CHAOS: Government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope said it was normal that people giving up a day’s holiday did so “with some gnashing of teeth” but that it was better than raising taxes.