France: Facing the provocations of a beleaguered government, continue for the withdrawal of the El Khomri law

Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste
Originally published May 3, 2016

The parliamentary debate on the law began Tuesday, May 3 with 5000 amendments were tabled, which will require either a long negotiation, or for the government to impose its will by the using Article 49-3[1].The media say that the government short 40 votes it needs to pass its legislation. Hollande and Valls are very low in the polls. All this shows the political weakness of the government.

Violence is on the government side and the police
We understand better, then, why they use large-scale violence to try to stop the movement. On April 28, as on May 1, it was Cazeneuve[2] and Valls and who were responsible for violence that took place on the sidelines of events. It is the behavior of the prefects and police who provoked the violence. Who instructs the CRS[3] to be permanently in contact with the protesters? Who sends in plain clothes police, causing the disruption in the demonstrations? The Minister of the Interior obviously. Fifty students were even summoned by the Police and put in custody in the Department 92 [4] on Monday, May 2!

The right and the extreme right go even further, claiming the ban on demonstrations and the standing night. The FN prime demand is the for dissolution of groups of the "extreme left."

All these people, defenders of the rich, Medef [France's largest employer organisation], and the banks are afraid. They see that the movement that has risen rejects their unjust and inhuman system where a privileged few get rich without limits at the expense of the majority of the population.

Legitimacy is on our side
They fear, provoke and repress because they know full well that their policy does not serve the interests of the people but the banks and multinationals. They know their stories of recovery, it's phony: unemployment is not declining, while the number of unemployment benefit recipients fell but the number experiencing precarity increased!

They know that if "it gets better" as claimed by Hollande, it is only for profits and paychecks but not for employees, not for young people.

That is why their policy of intimidation should not set us back quite the contrary. We are in process of demonstrating to the government, right, and FN that legitimacy of the demands of the movement is complete. Yes, we must impose the withdrawal of the El Khomri law must begin to impose another power struggle.

If we come together, we will have the strength to win
To achieve victory, it is necessary that all employees stop working at the same time, for not one but for several days, stopping the country and production! This would show that the power of all the wealthy comes only from our work! Let us ensure the changing of which camp is confident!

This is what passes through the minds of many employees, of all those who mobilized against the closure of their business against layoffs or against job cuts in the public service. Often we fought isolated from each other and often we have experienced losses. Today we finally see the opportunity to join forces and bring a halt to the government and employers.

We know that to force the government to cede, we can not content ourselves to isolated strike days.We need to build a global movement that paralyzes the economy, a general strike.

The railway workers, nor all workers and young people have not said their last word. We can win, confident in our own strength.

Employees, youth, private sector employees and pensioners, together!
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1 Refers to Article 49-3 of the French Constitution, "commitment of responsibility" it allows the government to pass a bill without a vote unless a vote of no confidence is successful against the government with 48 hours of bill being pushed through.
2 Bernard Cazeneuve is the current French Minister of the Interior. The Minister of the Interior is responsible for internal security within France including the French National Police and the French Gendarmerie.
3 Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (Republican Security Companies) are the riot control force of the French police.
4 France's Department 92, of Hauts-de-Seine covering the Western inner suburbs of Paris. Fortyseven students involved in protests were summoned questioning with 13 taken into custody over a blocade of a high school being set on fire and damaging the school.

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France: Call of the National Student Coordination of mobilised students

April 3 2016
Originally published by Solidaires

We, students are mobilized against the labour law, national student coordination meeting, mandated by 70 universities and higher education institutions, call for total withdrawal and without negotiation of the labour bill. The day of March 31 was a great success throughout France: nearly 1.2 million people showed their anger at and rejection of this anti-social act. For three weeks now, there are hundreds of thousands of university students with high school students, wage earners and unemployed that are mobilising despite the vain attempts of the state to divide and suppress the movement. Today, while Manuel Valls opts for negotiation with some trade union organizations, we reaffirm that this movement is self-organizing in General Meetings and in Coordination: only the movement can represent himself.

This law is a continuity of pro-management policies implemented by successive governments. It aims to facilitate redundancies, increase working time, and reduce the rights of workers. Only total withdrawal is an acceptable outcome faced with the widespread insecurity provided by this bill.

The government is afraid of this movement that is growing and is trying by all means to silence. Police repression and administrative penalties are unacceptable: on March 31 alone, there were more than 100 arrests and dozens of wounded. We will conduct a campaign against police violence, we will not back down, and we will not stop.

On 5 April we will be back on the street. We call on that date all the wage earners and their unions to build with us the indefinite general strike. To roll back government, an overall movement of university students, high school student, private sector employers and workers will be essential. To build this convergence of struggles, we call for intensifying the rhythm of mobilisation: April 9, we will be on the streets across France alongside wage earners. And in the following weeks, we will continue the movement on 12th, 14th and 20th of April. These dates should be a fulcrum to move towards a renewable strike. To make this prospect a reality, we call on all students to connect with workers and group together in interprofessional meetings.

The government relies on holiday to weaken the student mobilization: on the contrary, we will use this period to strengthen the mobilization and diversify e.g. by intervening in the occupation of places like the approach of the Nuit Debout (Standing Night). With the exams approaching, we demand that universities take steps to not impede the continued mobilization, including postponing the exams.
We are determined and we will fight to the finish to achieve:

• the total withdrawal, without negotiation, of the Labour Law
• redistribution and reduction of working time
• an immediate end to police repression and prosecutions as well as the immediate lifting of the state of emergency

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France: Movement against labour law swells as hundreds of thousands join protests and strikes

Lisbeth Latham

The hopes of French President Hollande and Prime Minister Valls of easily driving through their new labour law, that will dramatically cut rights from France’s Labour Code (which sets minimum conditions of employment – particularly in companies with no collective agreement – sets the institutional role of France’s union confederations) was dealt a severe blow as hundreds of thousands of people answered the call of worker and student unions for a day of strikes and mobilisations on March 31. These large mobilisations which were double the size of the previous united day of action on March 9. Despite growth, there remain considerable challenges for the movement if it is to force the government to retreat from its assault on worker’s rights.

Growing Movement
The March 31 mobilisations were larger than the earlier March 9 protests in all measures. Protests were held in 250 towns and cities compared to 140 previously. Union estimates put the number of participants at 1.2 million (up from 500, 000 on March 9), while police estimated 390, 000 people up from 250, 000. The largest demonstration was in Paris where 140, 000 people marched despite heavy rain – other large protests occurred in Marseille (120, 000) and Toulouse (100, 000). High School students unions reported 250 high schools were blockaded up from the peak of 200 during the student day of protest on March 17. University and high school student unions estimate that more than 200, 000 students participated in protests across France.

Socialist government’s efforts to demobilise fail
In the face of widespread hostility to the law (opinion polls suggest that 70% of people are opposed to the laws) the PS lead government have hoped to demobilise protests based on both on appearing to listen to protests and in making concessions in amending the proposed legislation. In the wake of March 9 protests, Valls announced that he would meet with student organisations and that he “looked forward to seeing the student proposals” on the laws. The draft legislation that was sent to the Council of Ministers on March 24 was heavily amended compared to the original draft – however it continues to contain major attacks on workers and the unemployed.

While the government was hoping that its concessions would help to divide and demobilisation the movement they have also been hoping that the continued failure of the leadership of “reformist” unions such as the Confédération française démocratique du travail (French Democratic Labour Confederation - CFDT), which after initially attempting wrangling amendments to the bill has acted to supported the bill, would help to undermine the mobilisations. Instead the more militant unions have repeatedly stated that the bill is unamendable and that it needs to be withdrawn in total. As a result there have been reports of members of the reformist unions particularly the CFDT and the Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens (French Confederation of Christian Workers) joining the protests.

A reflection of the impact of the failure of the government’s strategy is reflected in the collapse in popularity of both Hollande and Valls whose approval ratings are down to 15% and 27% respectively, Hollande’s approval rating is the lowest ever for a Socialist president.

Police Repression
As with previous mobilisations March 31 featured clashes between security forces and protesters with more than 100 people arrested and dozens of injuries. This violence has been made easier by the continued state of emergency which was put in place in the wake of the November 15 terror attacks in Paris. Police violence, particularly towards high school students – highlighted by member CRS riot police breaking a 15 year-old student’s nose on March 24 – has caused wide spread anger. The daily left-wing paper Liberation has been calling on witnesses to police violence to send it videos of any violence from protests. A joint statement issued by student organisations on April 4, set an objective of their mobilisations as “an immediate end to police repression and prosecutions as well as the immediate lifting of the state of emergency”.

For a reduced working week
The premise underlying the labour law is the need to tackle France’s growing unemployment problem, which currently stands at more than 10%. However as student and the militant unions are pointing out the proposed laws will do nothing to reduce unemployment but instead are aimed at boosting profits and flexibility for capital. In addition to calling for the bill to be abandoned the radical union confederation Solidaires and student organisations are calling for a further reduction of the working week – with Solidaires arguing that 32 hour week is necessary along with significant increases in the status and financial support for the unemployed.

Movement to come
The combining factors of the massive growth in the movement, the continuing refusal of the government to seriously engage with the opposition to the bill and the police repression has resulted in a speeding up and intensification of the movement. This is reflected in the large numbers of people who occupied public squares across France in the evening of March 31. In the evening of March 31 the leaderships of the worker and student unions that are leading the campaign issued a statement calling for the total withdrawal of the bill and for further mobilisations on April 5 (students) and April 9 (all sectors). On April 1 the general assemblies of students were held at Paris I (Tolbiac and Sorbonne) and at Paris VIII (Saint-Denis) universities both of which issued statements committing to further mobilisation and continuing the work of informing the university community of the campaign. Over April 2 – 3 a national coordinating meeting of university students was held and a joint statement was issued on April 4. This statement endorsed the mobilisations that had already been called for April 5 and April 9 and announced three further student mobilisations for April 12, 14 and 20 – with the objective of linking up with workers to build a renewable (i.e indefinite) general strike. In the statement students warned that the government is relying on the approaching university holidays to help to demobilise students (which occurred in 2006 following the withdrawal of the First Employment Contract law) but that students should instead use the holidays as an opportunity to intensify organising efforts. The statement also called on the university administrations not impede further mobilisations – which necessitates the universities postponing exams.

The continued growth of the movement has the potential to force the government to backdown – just as it was last week on its push to change France’s constitution to allow individuals convicted of terror related offences of their citizenship – however it is important to keep in mind that the current movement is far short of previous mass French worker and student mobilisations (1995, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2010) most of which were unable to generate sufficient pressure to defeat the neo-liberal assaults on the rights of workers by right-wing governments. While the push for increased mobilisations, particularly the proposal of university students, are important steps – there remain important challenges. The student push for a renewable general strike, which if realised would place massive pressure on the government, faces the serious challenge of the limited support within the union movement for such a strike – at this point only Solidaires (which is calling for such a strike and has a long record of advocating for a general strike as a mechanism for defeating government attacks) and Fédération Nationale des Industries Chimiques Confédération générale du travail (National Chemical Industry Federation General Confederation of Labour - FNIC CGT) which has advocated for a renewable strike in the chemical industry and in oil refining (the FNIC CGT lead a month long strike in France’s oil refineries during October 2010 against both attacks on France’s pensions and restructuring in that sector). An danger of the increase pace of the student mobilisations is that if the broader movement does not expand the students risk narrowing and exhausting their own campaign. It is this challenge of negotiating the need to expand the size, strength and pace of mobilisation – whilst avoiding exhausting those are already a part of campaign which faces the militant wing movement and which will be answered in the coming weeks.

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France: National mobilisations against proposed changes to the labour law

Lisbeth Latham
Today there will be strikes and protests across France today against the proposed changes to the Labour Law. The changes were proposed in November by Myriam El Khomri, Minister for Labour,  and were scheduled to go to cabinet for discussion today - however as opposition has grown this date has been shifted to March 25.

Map of March 9 Strikes and Protests

The proposed changes will significantly increase potential work week in France with a standard maximum of 48 hours per week and 60 hours in a week in "exceptional circumstances" (France's 35 hour week would nominally remain in place). The current proposals would also see a reduction in penalty rates and it will be easier for employers to sack workers - with lower compensation in cases of unfair dismissal. The proposed changes are being motivated as a mechanism to combat France's 10.2% unemployment rate.

Today's mobilisations are important as are likely to be the largest mobilisations in France since the declaration of the state of emergency in November - parliament voted on February 16 to extend the state of emergency until May 26. Today's mobilisations have been endorsed by the largest number of union confederations since the election of PS government in 2011.

Further mobilisations against the changes to the labour laws have been called for the end of March.

 
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