The French government plans to scrap a public holiday as a financial measure aimed at helping the elderly, the primary victims of this summer’s deadly heatwave.

Final decisions have not yet been taken but reports in Les Echos and France Soir, suggest the government expects to earn about 1.9bn euros as companies turn over to the state the estimated equivalent of their net earnings from the extra day’s work.

The Force Ouvriere trade union has described the move as “compulsory charity”.

If Pentecost Monday is dropped as a public holiday, France will then have 10 public holidays. Among European Union countries, Spain has the most public holidays at 16, while the Netherlands has the fewest at seven with one extra day every five years.