Live Thread: Hundreds of thousands protest in France

reuters/uk ^ | Mar 28, 2006 | Timothy Heritage

[quantim]

PARIS (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of French transport workers, teachers and other employees staged a one-day national strike or marched through the streets on Tuesday to try to force the government to abandon a new youth job law.

The Eiffel Tower was closed to visitors until the evening, commuters faced delays on trains and Paris underground rail services and airports were hit by stoppages in protest against Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's CPE First Job Contract.

Villepin, 52, stood firm over the plan but the strong turnout increased pressure on him to amend or withdraw the measure and calls for his resignation are growing.

"We're demanding the complete withdrawal of the CPE. You can't treat people like slaves. Giving all the power to the bosses is going too far," said Gregoire de Oliviera, a 21-year-old student in Paris.

Villepin hopes the CPE will reduce youth unemployment from almost 23 percent, but union and student leaders say it will create a generation of "throwaway workers" because it makes it easier to dismiss employees under 26 in a trial two-year period.

Tens of thousands of people rallied in Paris and organisers said 250,000 people took to the streets in Marseille, where banners read "We will not give up" and protesters daubed "Anti-CPE" on their faces.

In Grenoble, in the east, up to 60,000 people protested and 40,000 people protested in Pau in the southwest, unions said.

There were reports of isolated skirmishes but not on the same scale as violence that marred protests last week.

Villepin, a potential candidate in next year's presidential election, faces his biggest challenge since becoming prime minister last May.

Business leaders fear France's image will be damaged if protests continue and that investment and tourism could suffer, particularly because the crisis has erupted so soon after rioting by angry youths in French city suburbs late last year.

VILLEPIN APPEALS TO UNIONS

Unions refused to meet Villepin for talks on Wednesday but he renewed the invitation, telling parliament he was ready to compromise on two points -- the length of the trial period and the terms for giving notice.

"Useful time remains, let's use it for dialogue. But there is one thing that I will not accept ... that is to remain with my arms folded given youth unemployment about which you have never spoken before," he told jeering opposition deputies.

Villepin, a former foreign minister, also faces pressure from inside the ruling conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) headed by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, a likely rival for the 2007 presidential race.

The UMP parliamentary group on Tuesday backed Sarkozy's proposal that the government not rush to enforce the law and so leave the door open for further negotiations.

President Jacques Chirac, who has backed Villepin during the crisis, cancelled a trip to northern France planned for Thursday because of the situation, sources close to the president said.

Opinion polls show almost two-thirds of French people oppose the CPE. Even so, commuters were frustrated by the strike which caused delays on many rail lines.

"Why do you have to make all French suffer," French traveller Patricia said at Charles de Gaulle airport, where several flights were cancelled. "Fine that you're against the CPE. But why block the whole country, rather than talk?"

Mass street demonstrations are closely watched in France after protests over pensions reforms in 1995 which were widely credited with losing the conservatives the snap election called two years later -- in part on Villepin's advice.

Fears of a broader revolt have been fuelled by the incidents in Paris last week including looting, clashes with riot police and the mugging of student demonstrators by hardcore elements.

[quantim]

FNC covering it now - so far no Mexican flags...

"Police heavily outnumbered."

[Always Right]

"We're demanding the complete withdrawal of the CPE. You can't treat people like slaves. Giving all the power to the bosses is going too far," said Gregoire de Oliviera, a 21-year-old student in Paris.

Oh the horrors, giving the boss to fire some worthless worker. There is a reason no one wants to hire employees in France, it is nearly impossible to make them do a damn thing if they don't want to.

[stopem]

LOL, right, no they just want to shove the mexican flag in our faces, that's probably where the mexican socialist kids got the idea to demonstrate, I doubt they have any original ideas, from French socialists.

[quantim]

Students and workers demonstrate in Marseille, southern France, protesting during a nationwide one-day demonstration against the "First Job Contract", a jobs plan known as CPE, Tuesday, March 28, 2006. The strike and protests were a major test for Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin in a crucial week in his ongoing standoff with opponents of the so-called first job contract _ his recipe to reduce sky-high youth unemployment levels in France. Banner reads:"All fighting against the CPE law". (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

[quantim]

Are you watching this? It's starting to get violent, I hope this doesn't explode, it won't serve anyone's purpose.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

Welfare states can only last one generation, at most, before economic downward spiral. France is learning this lesson.

[mikey565]

How does the French economy stay afloat. I mean you can't fire anyone, how do the companies there make a profit. I just don't understand, what is their main export?

I now they are a welfare state, but how do they have the money to afford it. Anybody know anything about the French economy.

[ex-Texan]

View photo slide show on this site. Frankly, I'm amazed at the French. Hundreds of thousands marching in the street all over the nation. About what? Giving employers the same rights that bosses have in the U.S. The right to hire and fire "at will." No big deal, right? Perhaps if we staged national protests over illegal immigration our leaders would listen? Never in a million years.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I hope this doesn't explode, it won't serve anyone's purpose.

Mais oui, mon ami.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

"France is in the midst of transition, from a well-to-do modern economy that has featured extensive government ownership and intervention to one that relies more on market mechanisms. The government has partially or fully privatized many large companies, banks, and insurers. It retains controlling stakes in several leading firms, including Air France, France Telecom, Renault, and Thales, and is dominant in some sectors, particularly power, public transport, and defense industries. The telecommunications sector is gradually being opened to competition. France's leaders remain committed to a capitalism in which they maintain social equity by means of laws, tax policies, and social spending that reduce income disparity and the impact of free markets on public health and welfare. The government has lowered income taxes and introduced measures to boost employment and reform the pension system. In addition, it is focusing on the problems of the high cost of labor and labor market inflexibility resulting from the 35-hour workweek and restrictions on lay-offs. The tax burden remains one of the highest in Europe (nearly 50% of GDP in 2005). The lingering economic slowdown and inflexible budget items have pushed the budget deficit above the eurozone's 3%-of-GDP limit; unemployment stands at 10%."
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/fr.html

[BooksForTheRight.com]

This is a good reason for never giving in to communism/socialism/progressivism/democrats. It's next to impossible to wean people from their beloved welfare state.

[SmoothTalker]

"
"We're demanding the complete withdrawal of the CPE. You can't treat people like slaves. Giving all the power to the bosses is going too far," said Gregoire de Oliviera, a 21-year-old student in Paris."

Yes. Giving a boss the power to decide who he wants to employ is just like slavery. What a smart girl.

[Ramius]

Is it just me, or is anyone else just amazed at the farcical turn that has taken some world news?

Riots about cartoons... riots by lazy kids...

You know, it's not like there isn't a good menu of ~real~ problems out there to get all hepped up about...

[SmoothTalker]

"Is it just me, or is anyone else just amazed at the farcical turn that has taken some world news?

Riots about cartoons... riots by lazy kids... "

Add protesters in American streets with mexican flags demanding the US not enforce our own laws and I do tend to get the feel we are going to hell in a handbasket.

[Ramius]

You can't treat people like slaves.

Funny that they haven't made the logical cross-connect that what they're insisting on in tantamount to slavery of the *employer* instead of the employee.

[kidd]

...union and student leaders say it will create a generation of "throwaway workers" because it makes it easier to dismiss employees...

Funny that they take this view.

Put yourself in the employers shoes. You can hire someone who is 27 years old, who in reality cannot be fired whether he performs well or not, or you can hire a 25 year old who will need to perform well to keep his job.

As an employer, I'd say this law makes it easier to hire new workers.

[Elyse]

I went and looked at the slide show. That was really funny because I was thinking,"Well, this is no fun. My high school Spanish doesn't help me read stupid French signs" Then, I saw a big banner in ENGLISH! LOL! "We Shall Never Surrender"

They should make all their signs in English. I bet that would really tick the French government off.

[Ramius]

I was getting more to the ridiculous being elevated to the sublime.

I don't mind the mexican flags showing up in the demonstrations here. It has backfired on them, undermined their 'cause', and shown that they're not to be taken seriously. It was self-destructive and everything we should hope for in our opposition.

[nina0113]

Funny that they haven't made the logical cross-connect that what they're insisting on in tantamount to slavery of the *employer* instead of the employee.

As long as THEY'RE not the slaves, they don't care.