France to scrap youth job law

[DoYouEverWonder]

10 April 2006

French President Jacques Chirac has announced that the new youth employment law that sparked weeks of protests will be scrapped.

He said the First Employment Contract - or CPE - would be replaced by other measures to tackle youth unemployment.

Millions of students and union members have taken to the streets over the last month in protest against the law, with demonstrations often turning violent.

The government had backed the law which made it easier to fire young workers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4895164.stm

Well that went over well. :sarcasm:

[marmar]

1. Vive la revolution de les etudiants!

The French could teach Americans a thing or two about standing up to your government.

[ShortnFiery]

10. Oui!

No, I don't condone those who are violent.

But the FRENCH know how to put on *effective* PROTESTS!

This is GREAT!

I can hear that 60s tune playing over my head right now -

Power to the People!
Power to the People!
Power to the People!
Power to the People, RIGHT ON!

[zanne]

19. That's right. It's called democracy.

Other countries are much better at it than we are.

[Taxloss]

11. Allons enfants de la Patrie ....

Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé
Entendez-vous dans nos campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras.
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes!

Aux armes citoyens
Formez vos bataillons
Marchons, marchons
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons

Que veut cette horde d'esclaves
De traîtres, de rois conjurés?
Pour qui ces ignobles entraves
Ces fers dès longtemps préparés?
Français, pour nous, ah! quel outrage
Quels transports il doit exciter?
C'est nous qu'on ose méditer
De rendre à l'antique esclavage!

-------------

In English:

Arise patriotic citizens
The day of glory is at hand
The bloody banner of tyranny
Has been raised against us
In the fields, hear the shouting
Of the fearsome soldiers
Who are coming to cut your families' throats

Citizens take up arms
Form your battalions
March, march
Spill the enemy's blood
Over the land

What do this horde of slaves,
Traitors and conspiratorial kings want?
For whom have they wrought their vile iron chains?
Frenchmen this outrage is prepared for us!
What can we do to stop them in their plan
To return us to the slavery of an evil past

[ShortnFiery]

12. I'm having flashbacks to H.S. Project English Class!

Les Misérables. ;)

[Kagemusha]

2. No good will come of this.

The protestors wanted heads and however pure or impure the PM's motivations with regards to this law (frankly, Villepin seems an OK guy, but nothing less but the extremist result would be tolerated by the protestors here) they still want his head. Maybe in the short term the protests will putter out. But they've tasted blood and they want punishment meted out to those who defied them.

[tocqueville]

8. it's more complicated than that

it means that nothing have changed, once again, because the "leftist" forces have in reality a complete obsolete view of what is today's demands. The proposed contract was idiotic and marginal. But it became a symbol.

The only way to make progress is to change a basic set of rules that have not only to do with emplpoyment but also with housing and education as a whole. The reforms must go deep.

I don't see anybody in the next presidential election able to do the necessary changes.

It's the same situation than in the US but with different problems.

[tatertop]

25. Can you list, briefly, what reforms are needed?

I am only vaguely aware of the situation.

[lastliberalintexas]

30. Hardly, monsieur

"It's the same situation than in the US but with different problems."

For better or worse, through good governments and bad, you folks have incredible protections that the average American worker does not. The average American worker can be fired at any time, for a good reason, a bad reason or no reason at all- so long as it is not an illegal reason. What is an illegal reason has been extremely narrowly construed by the courts here, thus meaning in reality that most American workers really have no job protection or security at all. Imagine working in a situation in which your boss could literally fire you because s/he does not like the color shirt you are wearing- that is the situation in which the vast majority of American workers find themselves. The average American worker is used and abused by our Corporate America and then discarded along with the other "undesirables" of society once they are no longer seen as productive cogs in the system.

That is exactly the no cause employment arrangement (known in America as "at will employment") that your conservative government was trying to force on your workforce, who thankfully told the powers that be to eff off. For they would not have stopped with a law which only applied to the young, it would have been expanded eventually, maybe even slowly, to include all French workers.

We both might be suffering through bad governments at this time, but the plight of the average French person is much, much better than that of the average American. Maybe some day we can look at those things you do well and try to emulate you for a change, rather than mock a country which actually takes care of its people.

[DoYouEverWonder]

40. Have the French considered

doing some major public works projects where they can put these kids to work?

It's a big problem to have millions of young people all over the world with nothing to do. Governments live France and the USA need to find positive way to use and direct all of this energy. There is so much we could do if we just got a little creative.

[rfkrfk]

3. so, the law just disappears, when Chirac wants it to? .n/t

[madmark2]

4. its confusing to capital formation theorists when the units of labor

have political power and use it to increase their cost.

[tedzbear]

42. Yes. Don't ya love it?!

I am a union man, of course.

[madmark2]

5. its confusing to capital formation theorists when the units of labor

have political power and use it to increase their cost.

[Taxloss]

6. Welcome to DU, madmark2!

:hi:

[Taxloss]

7. A huge victory against a bad law.

French labour practises do need a bit of reform. But this was using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Fortunately, that nut Villepin cracked.

[killbotfactory]

9. I thought young people liked getting fucked over...

They do in this country. :patriot:

[brmdp3123]

13. The French surrendered again!

[alcibiades_mystery]

18. To themselves?

Dumb post.

[Bassic]

20. Yeah, the French are "surrender monkeys" of course.

That must be why they are so much better at organising themselves and so much more resolved in their demands than north americans can be.... :eyes:

[lanlady]

14. so what now?

What are these so-called alternatives to the CPE? Either they don't exist or they're just a bunch of half-measures that, as usual, won't solve anything.

Shame on Chirac.

[depakid]

15. Just goes to show....

what can happen when a population is informed, politically engaged and has the fortitude to say "NO, We won't accept being abused."

And to think, poor red state freepers working 50+ hour weeks with few or no benefits call them "surrender monkies." LOL.

[blackhorse]

22. Yeah,

the freeps have been propagandized into believing that no employee power is a good thing for the little man. France must be one of the few western societies actually resisting complete capitalist domination.

Vive La France.

BH

[xchrom]

16. good for them!

[whatelseisnew]

17. This was the result of a combined effort: labor & student unions

...
Union leaders had given the government until Easter weekend to withdraw the law or face a repeat of the recent general strikes.

The deputy leader of the country's second biggest trade union, the CGT, welcomed the announcement.

Victory

Maryse Dumas told the French news agency, AFP, that the withdrawal of the CPE was due to the "success of the joint action of workers and students, as well as union unity".

Victor Vidilles from the National Union of Students told the BBC that it was a great victory for the movement they had had for the last two months.
...

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

21. Victory is Sweet!

I attended the HUGE protest march in Lyon last Tuesday. It was a massive turnout - especially notable because of the broad mix of young and old. The high-schoolers led the parade, followed by the university kids, and the Syndicats followed up. Great organization - each group had their own colors of flags and signs, all were orderly and strong of voice for the entire three kilometres from the Lumiere Metro to Place Bellecour. We started at the stroke of 11:00 and stayed excited the whole way, AT LEAST 100,000 people, probably many more...

The CPE is just a stupid, bad law, and Villepin once again revealed himself to be an elitist and a poser. As usual, the elite here do not "waste their time" consulting with the people who are most affected by their decisions - just like last year when the public decided against the EU constitution.

There must be a solution to the unemployment situation in France, but it needs to be a far more comprehensive approach than that offered by Villepin, or any other politician of note in the Republic. The public here ain't stupid - this law was developed to serve the interests of the neo-liberal agenda, using youth unemployment as a pretext.

[BlackHeart]

23. Can anyone tell me?

Can anyone tell what it means that it is 'nearly impossible to get fired' if you are an employee of a French company?

[lastliberalintexas]

31. Corporate spin, for the most part

European countries by and large have much better protections for their employees than we do in the US. In much of Europe, an employer must have a reason for terminating one's employment- absenteeism, poor work performance, etc. In the US, most American workers could literally be fired for wearing a blue shirt if their boss hates blue- ie, we allow the employer to terminate for no reason at all, even if the employee is a fabulous employee, very productive, etc.

Corporations are apparently corporations, and even those in Europe apparently want to be able to screw their employees by imposing at will employment arrangements.

[burrowowl]

36. You can get fired for

a professional fault. Like in the U$ you get a warning and if not rectified then you are toast. Also layoffs can be done when a companies finances are going south, etc.

[Jack Rabbit]

24. Power to the people

[Vidar]

26. Democracy still functions in France.

[fshrink]

29. It is not democracy, a system,

it is rebellion. In France, there are still a few limits you just cannot cross without a violent reaction from the people. Unlike here, where you can pretty much screw everybody without consequences. Try to establish Diebold in France and you get yourself months of riots.

[Emillereid]

27. I wonder if we can get the French to help us AGAIN to overthrow

yet another King George?

[Mojambo]

28. It must be nice to actually be able to have an impact on your government.

I find the whole idea strange, mysterious... and alluring.

[christx30]

32. Most French businesses won't

hire young people with no proven work history. They don't want to be stuck with someone
that they can't fire if they won't do their jobs.
Which explains why the unemployment rate for people under 26 is so high there.

[lastliberalintexas]

33. Nice right wing spin

A French employer can terminate an employee for cause, but it must be *for cause* since they don't have the at will system that the US has. What this law attempted to do was to place the French employment system on its first steps to becoming like that of the US, in which the workers have little to no protections and can be fired at any time and for no reason at all.

Requiring *cause* for termination is completely different than a system in which an employee could not be fired for any reason, unless of course one watches Fox News.


Welcome to DU.

[auburnblu]

37. Not just spin. Who does this really hurt?

Hiring new workers is a big decision in France and those hurt the most aren't the white kids, its the minority immigrants who don't have connections to help them get their foot in the door. So the white kids were really protesting so that it would continue to be very hard for them to be let go. The white kids were also in reality protesting to maintain an economic status quo that only those with connections will be able to be hired. Bravo French kids, let the economic struggles of minorities in France continue. This is like a bunch of white college kids at Yale protesting a decision to abolish legacy admission policies.

[Bassic]

38. Actually, the whole thing will be replaced

by a program meant to integrate the poor kids in the job market, kind of like affirmative action for what I hear, but I'm dying to hear the details of it.

Plus, the fact of the matter is that French employers can already hire people on contract to try them out, this law would only have been the first infrigement on worker's rights in France.

What's important to remember here is that the rights of workers are not an evil that must be vanquished, unlike what they teach you guys in the U.S., businesses will not start collapsing tomorrow because you give their employees rights.

[WhiteTara]

34. Chirac Will Rescind Labor Law That Caused Wide French Riots

it is refreshing to see a government heed the call of the people.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/11/world/europe/11france.html

PARIS, April 10 — President Jacques Chirac crumbled under pressure from students, unions, business executives and even some of his own party leaders on Monday, announcing that he would rescind a disputed youth labor law intended to make hiring more flexible.

The retreat was a humiliating political defeat for both Mr. Chirac and his political protégé, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, underscoring the paralysis of their center-right government 13 months before presidential elections.

It also laid bare the deep popular resistance to liberalizing France's rigid labor market, and makes any new economic reform politically impossible before a new government is in place, and perhaps not even then.

"Dead and buried," is how Jean-Claude Mailly, leader of the leftist union Force Ouvrière, described the fate of the labor law. "The goal has been achieved."

The cancellation of the law, which Mr. Chirac had signed on April 2, is aimed in large part at bringing an end to two months of major protests and strikes throughout France that have shut down universities, threatened to hurt tourism and the economy, and brought violent clashes between young people and the police.

Still, a student protest march scheduled for Tuesday will proceed as planned, and students at several French universities voted Monday to continue blocking access to classes, demanding more concessions from the government in work practices and job security.

[mom cat]

35. The streets make a difference.

[DoYouEverWonder]

39. Only if the M$M covers the story

When we march, blond girls missing in Aruba are suddenly much more important.

[fshrink]

41. You can't hide a riot. Even here.