Nearly 400,000 Workers Will Protest France's Rigid Labor Laws
The new French government of Emanuel Macron will face its first serious test of nerve on Tuesday, Sept. 12, when an expected 400,000 French workers will take to the streets to protest proposed changes to France's rigid labor laws.
Some 150 separate marches are expected to take place across France, with the biggest expected to in Paris early in the afternoon. The effects of the protests were already being felt in Paris early on Tuesday with trains cancelled and trucks and buses moving at walking pace on key Paris roads, including the iconic roundabout of Places Charles de Gaulle, at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe.
The protests are in opposition to Macron's draft plans to reform France's laborious employment codes. The President made the reforms a key plank of his election campaign earlier this year, claiming that France must make it easier to hire and fire workers to reduce unemployment that has hovered around 10% for more than a decade.
Tuesday's protests were called by France's second largest union, known as La CGT.
"This first mobilization will raise the profile of the debate about the measures," said CGT secretary general Phillipe Martinez in an interview on France 2 Television. "This is a real battle, and I think the mobilization is necessary."
Macron won a victory of sorts even before the protest began after France's No.1 and No.3 unions, la CFDT and Force Ouvriere (FO), advised their members not to take part while talks about the proposed reforms continued.
"FO is not an organization that always says no," said the union's secretary general Jean-Claude Mailly. "When we have concerns then it will be time. But others have called for a day of protest without demanding anything...that risks a credibility problem."
National protests are an irregular yet powerful force in France's political landscape. Similar protests forced Macron's predecessors Francois Holland and Nicolas Sarkozy to water down their attempts to change labor laws
The protests and proposed reforms have split public opinion in France. A poll conducted by IFOP found that 57% of respondents supported the strikes, though just 23% said the strikes were "totally justified." French success of street protests in France rely heavily on wider public support as only about 5% of the workforce is unionized.
Macron's government, led by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, is proposing to introduce new regulations that would: allow small business to negotiate work contracts directly with employees; simplify the dismissal process; limit payments to employees for wrongful dismissal; and merge the multiple workers committees required in large businesses.
"I think it (the reforms) are a move in the right direction," said Olivier, an executive at a Paris-based I.T. firm. "I understand it will be tough for people to accept that they don't have a job for life, it will take a generation to adjust, but we need more movement."
The final text of the law is due to be presented to ministers on Sept. 22, and will begin to take effect within days.
Macron himself will not be in France to witness the protests. He is due to arrive, Tuesday, in the French overseas territories of St Martin and St Barts, which was devastated by Hurricane Irma.
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