French Union Leaders Threaten Strike

By Philip White

(EUNN) London - French union leaders threaten to strike over a contested jobs plan for youths that sparked violent protests in Paris over the weekend.

French union leaders have given Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin until tomorrow night to withdraw the plan that would provide jobs for the young that critics of the jobs plan see as a reduction of older workers rights.

Speaking on France-Inter radio, Bernard Thibault, head of the CGT union, said, "If the government persists, we can envisage working together toward a national strike day."

The new law is expected to take effect in April, unless French President Jacques Chirac blocks it. Protestors are urging Chirac not to permit the jobs plan go into effect. Sixteen Universities around France have already gone on strike in protest to the jobs plan and more are expected to join them unless Chirac steps in and veto’s the plan.

The plan is designed to increase job hirings among the young but is viewed by critics as an erosion of workers’ rights that will not produce solid employment.

Protests in Paris yesterday led to 52 people being injured, police said, with 18 of those being protestors.

Paris police arrested another 167 people and held 70 of the protestors for further questioning during the riot. Cars and bus shelters were damaged in yesterday’s violence along with 10 shops. A clothing store, The Gap, was also burned, but authorities said the blaze was accidental.

Police said about 500,000 people took part in the demonstrations in cities around France while protest organizers put the figure at three times that number.

So far, protests have carried over for three days around France and organizers say tomorrow it will be even larger.

The cause the violent protests is the First Jobs Contract, which is intended for those under 26 years of age with little chance of finding a good job. The Contract is meant to encourage employers to hire the young, but it also permits them to more easily fire the youths. In effect, the law allows for dismissal within the first two years of employment without justification.

The French government moved to create the First Jobs Contract in response to violent protests across France last year when demonstrations erupted in depressed suburban neighbourhoods fuelled by discrimination and joblessness. Those same neigbourhoods had unemployment rates as high as 50 percent amongst those under 26 years of age. The French work code contains rigorous standards for firing employees. But Villepin hopes to use the measure to lower the 23 percent unemployment rate among the nation’s youths, which older workers say will give employers the opportunity to hire workers that can more easily be fired.

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