French labor law scrapped

The French government bowed to weeks of protests and announced on Apr. 10 that it was scrapping a controversial employment law that made it easier for employers to fire workers under the age of 26. In the wake of the biggest street demonstrations for almost 40 years, the office of the president, Jacques Chirac, said a new plan focusing on youths from troubled backgrounds would replace the "first job contract." "The president of the republic has decided to replace article 8 of the equal opportunities law with measures to help disadvantaged young people find work," a statement from the presidency said. The announcement was made following a meeting with the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, and other senior members of the ruling UMP party. De Villepin–whose presidential hopes have been dented by the crisis–said in a television appearance that his original legislation had been designed to curb "despair of many youths" and strike a "better balance... between more flexibility for the employer and more security for workers." "This was not understood by everyone, I'm sorry to say," he added. Senior politicians from Chirac's conservative Union for a Popular Movement party presented a new plan advocating an increased government role in the workplace rather than the reduction de Villepin had wanted. The four-point plan envisages more state support for companies taking on young workers, and other measures include increased internships in areas where jobs are relatively plentiful such as the restaurant and hotel industries. Union leaders, who feared the job contract would erode employment security, were triumphant after the announcement. Jean-Claude Mailly, of the Workers Force union, said the job contract was "dead and buried" and "the goal has been achieved." The secretary-general of the UNSA union, Alain Olive, said the 12 syndicated groups of workers, university and high school students had "won a great victory." Dominique Paille, a UMP member, said there "was no shame in being manhandled by the population." French newspapers today suggested new proposals would probably include subsidizing employers to hire young people with the aim of giving the worst-off access to the labor market. The measure has become a political battlefield for the potential candidates in next year's presidential election. De Villepin, Chirac's favored successor, last week told the national assembly that he would not "throw in the towel." Chirac enacted the law earlier this month, but immediately suspended it to give the government the chance to meet with unions and seek a way out of the turmoil. De Villepin's rival, the interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, was given the job of bringing unions to the negotiating table, and his allies briefed the press that the law was dead and buried. Last week, after more than three million demonstrators marched on the streets, French unions and student leaders gave the government 10 days to scrap its youth employment law or face renewed strikes and protests. In a joint statement, the leaders of 12 unions said that if the law was not revoked by Apr. 17, the French Parliament's Easter break, they would step up the protests which have seen hundreds of universities and high schools blockaded for weeks. When asked what they would do if the deadline was not met, unions said that nothing was ruled out. The government had claimed its new "easy-hire, easy fire" contract would curb the country's 22 percent youth unemployment–a rate that rises to 50 percent in deprived suburbs. The law, pushed through parliament by de Villepin without a debate last month, would have spared businesses France's rigid employment laws by allowing them to take on workers under 26 in the knowledge they could let them go after two years. Government officials believed employers would be quicker to take young workers on if they were spared rigid employment rules making it difficult to get rid of staff. Last week, demonstrators marched in around 280 French towns and cities. Police fought running battles with rioters in central Paris as youths attacked officers with bottles and concrete following a mass protest. In Rennes, where one university faculty has been blockaded for two months, students blocked railway tracks, closing the station for almost an hour. Police clashed with demonstrators who had gathered outside the UMP party offices.