In June 2016, male bus drivers in Nantes turned up for work in skirts after their employer refused to let them wear shorts during a severe heatwave, arguing the company’s dress code was inconsistent and left them working in dangerously hot conditions.
Six bus drivers in the French city of Nantes staged an unusual protest in June 2016, arriving for work dressed in skirts after their employer refused their request to wear shorts during a period of exceptional heat. With temperatures reaching 38C (100F) and prompting weather alerts across France, the drivers, who worked for Semitan, the public transport operator serving Nantes and the surrounding metropolitan area, said conditions inside their vehicles had become unbearable. When management turned down their request to dress more casually, the men decided to protest what they described as unacceptable working conditions by wearing skirts instead.
Exploiting a loophole in the rules
The protest relied on an apparent inconsistency in Semitan’s uniform policy: while shorts were banned, skirts were permitted. Driver and union representative Didier Sauvetre explained the drivers’ reasoning to the local paper Press Ocean, saying, “because skirts are authorised, we are wearing them.” He said the group had simply asked to wear clothing suitable for the high temperatures and had been refused. Sauvetre, pictured in a black knee-length skirt paired with white sports socks and sandals, said the drivers had found themselves envious of female colleagues who were able to wear skirts throughout the heatwave, and had decided to do the same.
“Women can wear skirts but not men”
Fellow union representative Gabriel Magner argued the dress code amounted to discrimination, telling reporters, “women can wear skirts but not men.” He pointed out that while management’s offices were air-conditioned, most of the company’s vehicles were not, making it difficult to spend more than seven hours at a time driving in temperatures he said could reach 50C inside the cab. Magner argued that once outside temperatures passed 30C, management should activate a heatwave plan allowing drivers to wear shorts, adding that unions had been requesting exactly that since 2013. He also noted that once the driver’s compartment was closed, passengers would not even be able to see what drivers were wearing underneath their uniforms.
A long-running request for comfort
According to union representatives, requests to allow shorts as part of the summer uniform had gone unanswered since 2013, with unions arguing the change would improve driver comfort and reduce the health risks associated with working in extreme heat. Drivers said that temperatures inside some of the company’s older buses could climb significantly higher than the temperature outside, particularly in vehicles where the driver’s cab lacked air conditioning.
The company’s response
Pascal Bolo, president of Semitan, defended the company’s position, insisting that uniform rules needed to be respected. “It’s hard but it’s only a few days of the year,” he said, adding that conditions in Nantes, in western France, were not comparable to those in hotter southern cities such as Montpellier. Bolo noted that newer buses in the fleet were fitted with air conditioning even in the driver’s compartment, unlike his own office. The previous year, the company had introduced a lighter-weight “summer trousers” option as part of the uniform, but shorts remained banned as inappropriate.
A debate that spread across Europe
The Nantes protest attracted considerable international attention at the time and helped reignite a broader debate over gender-specific workplace dress codes and whether employers needed to modernise outdated uniform policies. Similar demonstrations subsequently took place elsewhere in Europe, with school pupils, office workers and transport staff in other countries also wearing skirts to challenge rules that banned shorts for men. The episode came as employers across the continent faced growing pressure to review dress codes amid increasingly frequent heatwaves linked to climate change, alongside broader concerns about employee welfare and workplace safety. Prolonged heat exposure is known to raise the risk of dehydration, heat exhaustion, reduced concentration and fatigue, particularly for employees working long shifts in enclosed environments such as vehicle cabs.
