France faces job law strike wave :: Namibia Internet Gateway cc ::

Articles: France faces job law strike wave

Posted by admin on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 08:16 AM

France faces a day of nationwide strikes as trade unions call out public and private sector workers against new youth employment contracts.

By Caroline Wyatt
BBC News, Paris

Many train users might have to resort to their feet on Tuesday

More than 100 demonstrations are expected in cities across France, with severe disruption to public transport also expected. Students will be joined by other workers who want the government to cancel the new contracts. About 4,000 riot police will be on duty in Paris alone. Parents and children Once again, French students are taking to the streets - the children of the May 1968 generation - protesting for their rights to a steady job and a pension at the end of it all.

Students flex their muscles

Students will be joined by teachers, postal workers, train drivers, air traffic controllers, Air France employees and others who want the new job contracts withdrawn immediately. Many will be marching arm-in-arm with their parents, who fear Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is chipping away at the French social model, trying to create a new generation of disposable workers in a country which treasures security. Yet with one in four of the young here without a job, Mr de Villepin has made clear he wants to push through this reform, to encourage employers to take on new staff. Law and order fears These latest demonstrations though are a real test of the prime minister's resolve, and it is hard to see how he can break the stalemate. The main unions refuse to negotiate until he withdraws the contracts - while Mr de Villepin insists he will not be dictated to by the streets. In France, street protests have long proved a powerful political weapon. Yet there are serious fears on all sides about a breakdown in public order if these protests continue. Political rivals In Paris and elsewhere, the mainly peaceful protests are being hijacked by hooligans at the end of each march.

The PM says he won't be dictated to by the streets

Police say many are coming in from the troubled suburbs intent on violence. Cars have been set alight and some students complain of being mugged or beaten up by the troublemakers. Riot police will be stationed on the streets of Paris to try to stop a repeat of last Thursday's violent scenes. Riots in the heart of the French capital are hardly the image the country wants to project - and that puts even more pressure on the prime minister to find a solution as quickly as possible. To do so without losing face - or ground to his main rival for the presidency, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy - is proving the biggest challenge of Mr de Villepin's political career.

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