Business
French Unions Protest Labour Bill
Hardline trade unions staged protests across France last Tuesday against an overhaul of labour rules expected to be passed by parliament later in the day.
It is a show of force they hoped would mobilise public opinion for further labour action.
The lower house of parliament, where President Francois Hollande’s Socialist government has a slim majority, is expected to pass his measures loosening firing and hiring rules, opening the way for a Senate vote on April 17.
Some trade unions, led by the left-wing CGT and backed by hard-left allies in parliament, were determined to stir up opposition against what they called a “traitorous” bill, with marches in up to 170 towns and cities.
In the Mediterranean city of Marseille, thousands marched bearing banners with the words “No to breaking the labour code’’, seen as the most comprehensive labour reforms since World War Two. “We won’t let anything part us,’’ regional CGT chief Mireille Chessa told reporters. Accusations from the left that Hollande has abandoned Socialism could weigh on his already dismal approval ratings close to 30 per cent and hurt his party’s performance in municipal elections next year.
Left-wingers are already finding some of the president’s economic policies, such as raising sales tax to fund a reduction in company labour costs, hard to swallow.
Hollande also came under fresh fire this week after his former budget minister admitted he had lied for months about the existence of a secret foreign bank account.
Public opinion on the reforms is divided, but a survey by pollster BVA in March found that 62 per cent of respondents supported passing the bill, making it more popular with the French than Hollande himself.
“The point is to make workers aware of the impact this is going to have on their daily lives,’’ Thierry Lepaon, head of the CGT union, told Canal+ television.
Nationwide protests last month against the labour bill drew 200,000 participants, according to a CGT estimate a modest turnout explained by the fact that members of the moderate CFDT union did not participate.