Students, workers plan general strike in France

All major French union confederations and student bodies called on March 20 for a general strike and protest marches on March 28 to pressure the government to withdraw a job law that would allow workers under 26 to be fired without reason.

Nantes, France

In France, unlike in the United States, workers’ right to their jobs is protected by law, and it is difficult for management to fire workers once they have been hired. The new law would set up a two-tier system, removing that right to a job from young people.

The call for a general strike follows massive demonstrations on March 18 when more than 1.5 million people—including high school and college students, workers, retirees and families—protested in the streets against the new law.

According to the French Press Agency (AFP), police fired tear gas and assaulted scores of demonstrators with water cannons. Hundreds of youth fought the cops, smashing windows, overturning vehicles and hurling objects at the cops for six hours. One trade unionist, beaten mercilessly by police, lies in a hospital in a coma.

Actions on campuses, including strikes and sit-ins, have affected 60 of the country’s 84 universities, with 21 closed and 37 others “badly disrupted.” Protests have also occurred in dozens of high schools.

The First Employment Contract (CPE) was pushed forward by French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, without consultation with youth or trade unions. The government also used a constitutional article to hasten the law’s passage by limiting parliamentary debate.

CPE offers a two-year contract for youth that Villepin claims will ease unemployment. However, the law’s provision that youth can be fired at will actually make it more difficult for them to find and hold long-term employment. In addition, AFP reports that the financial compensation for those fired will be less than for those on current short-term contracts. The law would apply to all youths under 26, whether the job is their first or not, despite the word “first” in its name.

U.S.-style work rules

Austria’s Der Standard magazine said the CPE is an attempt to introduce U.S.-style “hire and fire” rules to the country.

The government deceptively framed the law as part of “equal opportunities” legislation after youth rebellions in November of last year. While overall youth unemployment in France is 23 percent—one of the highest rates in Europe—it is as high as 50 percent in the largely African and Muslim immigrant suburbs where the rebellions took place last fall.

The government is now attempting to divide the youth to diminish their power. As opposed to the college students, the youth involved in the unrest on March 18 were labeled “hooligans and thugs from a number of neighborhoods” by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. France’s daily newspaper Liberation pointed out the flaw in the right-wing minister’s argument: “As if many young people in the suburbs were not also students ... as if those excluded from the education system did not also hope to escape the threat of unwarranted dismissal.”

In fact, youth interviewed in the suburbs say they support the efforts of the students on the campuses and understand the implications of the law. According to the Associated Press, “Youths [in the suburbs] do not expect any quick results from the contract and wonder how it is any different from temp work. They insist it does not solve the real problem for them: discrimination because of their foreign-sounding names and addresses in the troubled suburbs.”

Mohammed, a 20-year-old in the suburb of Clichy-Sous-Bois, said, “This contract just means two years of anxiety. Villepin is lying when he says it’s for us.”

Critics of the protests claim that the youth are being naïve about their pro spects for a future in a neoliberal society. London’s Daily Telegraph editorializes, “[The protests] constitute a rejection of globalization, a refusal to accept that the opening of the world economy ... has rendered the old French social contract unaffordable.”

Yet the protests in France accompany the growing struggle against globalization that is occurring around the world, most notably in Latin America, with successes along the way. According to an opinion poll taken on March 17, almost 70 percent of the French public now opposes the CPE. Unions continue to support the effort of the youths, knowing that unity is strength and also that the CPE is a stepping stone to the erosion of labor laws for all French workers.

Bruno Julliard of the UNEF students’ union told AFP, “Today we can clearly see that the mobilization is stronger than ever. Either the government listens to reason and withdraws the CPE, or it will be obliged to do so next week—because we will be back in the street.”

Despite the outpouring of opposition, Villepin has called only for “dialog” and refused to offer the rescinding of the CPE as an option. Following this refusal, France’s main union confederations and university and high-school students met on March 20. “All the unions are calling to make March 28 a day of demonstrations, strikes and work stoppages,” said Rene Valadon, secretary of the Force Ouvriere (FO) union confederation. The two other major union groups, the CGT and the CFDT, also support the call for a general strike.