DeclinetoState
03-17-2006, 09:12 PM
Trouble (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2006-03-17T230956Z_01_L17342207_RTRUKOC_0_US-FRANCE.xml&rpc=22) in the near-socialist paradise?
By Matthew Bigg
PARIS (Reuters) - France braced for mass protests on Saturday against a new employment law as unions said more than 1 million people would march to increase pressure on the government to repeal the measure.
Opposition to the new contract has provoked a serious crisis for the government of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin as it has mobilized students, the left-wing opposition and unions.
In a bid to further increase pressure, a key union leader said the march could be followed by a general strike.
"If they don't listen to us we are going to have to think about moving to a general strike across the whole country," said Bernard Thibault, head of the Confederation of General Workers union, one of France's largest.
"I'm optimistic ... that the government will finally take notice of the situation they've created for themselves," he said on France 3 television, adding the march would top the March 7 rallies when unions said 1 million people took to the streets.
Villepin says his First Job Contract will help young people find jobs, crucial because youth unemployment is more than double the national average and rises to 50 percent in some poor suburbs where it was a factor behind riots in November.
But the law allows employers to dismiss people under 26 at any time during a 2-year trial period and that would destroy job security, critics say.
Protest against a law intended to stem unemployment by going on strike? Never overestimate the intelligence of a French socialist.
By Matthew Bigg
PARIS (Reuters) - France braced for mass protests on Saturday against a new employment law as unions said more than 1 million people would march to increase pressure on the government to repeal the measure.
Opposition to the new contract has provoked a serious crisis for the government of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin as it has mobilized students, the left-wing opposition and unions.
In a bid to further increase pressure, a key union leader said the march could be followed by a general strike.
"If they don't listen to us we are going to have to think about moving to a general strike across the whole country," said Bernard Thibault, head of the Confederation of General Workers union, one of France's largest.
"I'm optimistic ... that the government will finally take notice of the situation they've created for themselves," he said on France 3 television, adding the march would top the March 7 rallies when unions said 1 million people took to the streets.
Villepin says his First Job Contract will help young people find jobs, crucial because youth unemployment is more than double the national average and rises to 50 percent in some poor suburbs where it was a factor behind riots in November.
But the law allows employers to dismiss people under 26 at any time during a 2-year trial period and that would destroy job security, critics say.
Protest against a law intended to stem unemployment by going on strike? Never overestimate the intelligence of a French socialist.