Victorian gender recognition legislation an important step for equality

Lisbeth Latham

The Victorian government announced new legislation on August 18 aimed at simplifying the process for trans and gender diverse (TGD) people's to change the sex marker on their birth certificates and records. This has rightfully been welcomed as an important step forward for TGD people rights.
The new legislation, which follows similar legislation in the ACT and 2013 changes to policies regarding sex markers on Commonwealth documents, is a start towards eliminating medical gatekeeping on the lives of TGD people.

The Victorian government announced new legislation on August 18 aimed at simplifying the process for trans and gender diverse (TGD) people's to change the sex marker on their birth certificates and records. This has rightfully been welcomed as an important step forward for TGD people rights.

The new legislation, which follows similar legislation in the ACT and 2013 changes to policies regarding sex markers on Commonwealth documents, is a start towards eliminating medical gatekeeping on the lives of TGD people.

However, significant steps remain in overcoming all of the formal legal and medical barriers that confront TGD people.

The new changes will remove two key barriers that have been a feature of gender recognition processes. With the exception of those living in the ACT, individuals seeking to change their sex marker have been required to undertake at least some form of gender reassignment surgery (GRS), and all states and territories require that individuals not be married.

The requirement for individuals to undergo GRS is a significant barrier to many TGD people having their affirmed gender recognised on their birth certificates, both because surgery is very expensive and because many TGD people do not desire to undergo surgery as part of their affirmation of gender.

The need to be single — which is aimed at ensuring that there are no marriages of people of the same sex — has meant that TGD individuals who are married have been forced to divorce to change their gender marker.

The Victorian government is arguing that its proposed change to the marriage requirement does not bring the legislation into conflict with the federal Marriage Act, which stipulates that marriages are between a man and a woman, because this requirement applies only at the time the marriage takes place and not subsequent to the marriage.

The proposed Victorian legislation, like the 2014 ACT legislation, allows TGD people to change their sex marker. The ACT legislation also provided for the introduction of a third sex marker on birth certificates of “X” for “intersex, unspecified, or indeterminate”.

In 2013, the federal government changed its policies for people wishing to amend their sex marker on their passports and with other commonwealth agencies such as Medicare and the Australian Tax Office. The changes removed the need for an individual to have undergone GRS and introduced a sex not specified “X” category.

With both the ACT and federal processes, applications need to be accompanied by a statement from a clinician that the patient is “receiving appropriate treatment or as being intersex”, which acts to pathologise TGD and intersex experiences. It also means that medical practitioners remain as gatekeepers on the lives of TGD people. The requirement for a TGD person's decision to be supported by a medical practitioner is absent from proposed Victorian legislation.

The only role for medical practitioners in the Victorian legislation is to certify that a minor wishing to change their marker is able to make an informed decision and that it is, in the medical practitioner's view, in the minor's interests to make the change. For those over the age of 16, it is assumed that they can make a decision for themselves.

An additional feature of the Victorian legislation is that it will enable individuals to have their birth certificates state that they are non-binary or list an alternative descriptor, with the only limitation being that the descriptor cannot be deemed to be offensive. This change is important as it allows a recognition of sexes and genders outside of the male-female/man-woman binary and reflects an individuals' actual identity.

The proposed Victorian legislation is important to the lives of TGD people, particularly trans women. Although trans people are protected by the Victorian Equal Opportunities Act from transphobic discrimination, under the Act and similar legislation across Australia, you cannot require a person to treat you as your affirmed gender unless your birth certificate states that it is your gender.

There are several circumstances under these acts where it is lawful to exclude individuals who are not of a specific gender, such as access to toilets, and the ability to play in sporting codes based on your affirmed gender or take up a position that is designated based on a specific gender. While this situation does not mean that organisations and companies have to discriminate in these circumstances, it does mean that they can lawfully do so.

While these changes represent significant advances in allowing TGD individuals the ability to determine their own lives, there are significant steps that need to be taken around the formal rights of transgender people.

Beyond pushing for all states and territories to adopt legislation similar to the proposed Victorian legislation, there is a continued need to decrease the gatekeeper role of doctors in determining if and when a TGD person can access medical technology to assist their gender affirmation.

Provision of hormones and other medical technology in Australia is guided by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health Standards of Care, which operates within a framework that pathologises TGD lives and ties access to medically-assisting affirmation technologies, such as hormones and surgery, to TGD people meeting doctors' expectations of what it is to be a particular gender.

TGD advocate organisations argue for an alternative model based on informed consent where individuals are able to access the medical technology they feel is appropriate to them, based on being informed of the possible impacts of that technology and consenting to use the technology based on them.

This model is at the centre of Argentina's 2012 Gender Identity Law which states “all persons older than eighteen (18) years ... will be able to access total and partial surgical interventions and/or comprehensive hormonal treatments to adjust their bodies, including their genitalia, to their self-perceived gender identity, without requiring any judicial or administrative authorisation”. This law also makes access to these technologies part of a Compulsory Medical Plan that covers all workers in formal employment.

An additional change that also needs to be made is ending the requirement for families of TGD children who wish to access Stage Two Hormones (the hormones associated with their affirmed gender) having to go to the Family Court to demonstrate that the child is able to give informed consent, a process which is both potentially traumatic and very expensive. Australia is the only jurisdiction in the world that has such a legal requirement.

There is still a long way to go to eliminate the legal and medical barriers that confront TGD people in Australia, and even more to addressing the high levels of social stigma and discrimination faced by TGD people.

However, the proposed changes in Victoria reflect the significant and rapid advances that are being made in Australia to make it easier and safer for TGD people to live their authentic lives.
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This article was originally published in Green Left Weekly #1108

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Sexist burkini ban based on Islamophobia, not secularism

Lisbeth Latham

Since the announcement of an ordinance banning the wearing of burkinis on the beaches of the French Mediterranean city of Cannes in late July, France has been swept up in a new wave of Islamophobia.

A further 17 municipalities have announced their own ordinances banning the burkini — the full-body swimsuit worn by some Islamic women. These bans have been endorsed not only by France's far right, but by the Socialist Party Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

On August 27, France's highest administrative court suspended the bans after they were challenged by rights groups. However, the ruling still gives local authorities the ability to impose the bans if they can show a “proven risk” to public order. Those supporting the bans have sought to justify them in terms of defending women's rights, France's secular society and social order. But in reality, they are sexist and anti-secular — and promote the further marginalisation of France's Islamic community. The July 28 ordinance in Cannes prohibiting the burkini states: “Access to beaches and swimming in Cannes is prohibited … until August 31, to any person not properly dressed, in a way which is respectful of morality and secularism and that respects the rules for hygienic and safe swimming.” David Lisnard, Cannes's Mayor and a member of Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing Les Republicains party, has defended the city's ordinance on the basis that only radicals would be upset by it. Lisnard described the burkini as “the uniform of extremist Islamism, not of the Muslim religion”. Lisnard has also argued that the ordinance is needed to maintain public order against a background of terror threats. But Lisnard's argument only makes sense if you accept the motivations that he projects onto women who choose to wear a burkini. France's Human Rights League and the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, on the other hand, have challenged the bans as an illegal restriction on the religious rights of individuals. However, the Nice administrative tribunal's ruling, that upheld the ban in Nice, said: “The state of emergency context and recent Islamist attacks in particular in Nice … wearing a distinctive dress, other than a usual swimwear, can indeed be interpreted as not being, in this context, a simple sign of religiosity.” Supporting the bans, Valls said the burkini represents “the enslavement of women” and reflects an “archaic vision” of feminine modesty “not compatible with the values of France”. Valls also endorsed the idea that banning the wearing of burkinis could contribute to public safety by saying “in the face of provocation, the nation must defend itself”. Although Valls has avoided supporting the idea of a France-wide ban of the burkini, this should not be seen as opposition on Valls's part to France-wide attempts at controlling the clothes of Muslim women. In April, he publicly called for a ban on wearing hijabs at France's universities. The bans on burkinis are not the first time that women's rights have been mobilised in France to justify bans on the clothes of Muslim women. Similar arguments were made in support of the 2004 law on secularism and conspicuous religious symbols in public schools, which banned the wearing of hijabs in public schools. There was also controversy in 2010 around the decision by the New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA) to stand Ilham Mousaid, a member of the far-left party who chose to wear a hijab, as a candidate in regional elections, and to support the 2010 law banning the wearing of face coverings in public. This was effectively a ban on the niqab, although popularly referred to as the burqa ban. This mobilisation of public concern over the rights of women is problematic on a number of levels. First, as University of Toulouse academic Rim-Sarah Aloune suggests, it creates the idea that the struggle of women over the right to choose how they dress only operates to reduce the amount of clothing that women are required to wear. But, as Aloune says, “women's rights imply the right for a woman to cover up”. Indeed, women workers in a number of Western countries have struggled to desexualise the clothes they have been required to wear — for example, in the airline industry. Secondly, it creates a false dichotomy between “archaic” and “misogynistic” Islamic cultures and “progressive” Western cultures. This dichotomy ignores the sexism that exists in Western societies. Finally, these bans in the name of protecting the rights of Muslim women in France have all worked to exclude Muslim women from French social life — whether it is from schools; standing for election to public office; going out in public or swimming at the beach. This alone demonstrates the thoroughly sexist character and effect of such bans. Defence of France's secular society may seem an easy argument to support bans against “religious clothing” but it isn't. This is particularly the case with efforts to justify bans on the burkini — its advocates and defenders are also arguing that the burkini is not religious dress. This sleight of hand is primarily aimed to cover the idea that the bans are themselves Islamophobic. However, arguments justifying attacks on Muslims in the name of defending secularism (which are not limited to France) are clearly hypocritical. They are overwhelming concerned with the actions of marginalised Muslims, with little concern over the influence of Christianity on Western states. But they also reflect an extremely one-sided understanding of secularism. Secularism is not simply a question of religion not influencing the state. Secularism is also about freedom for people to practice their religions without interference from the state. Part of the problem with the debates around the clothes of Muslim women in France is that decisions by individual Muslims regarding the clothes that they choose to wear is perceived as being influenced by religion in a way that clothing decisions — and other actions — by non-Muslims are not. This results in Muslims, particularly Muslim women, being seen as having less agency in their actions, particularly their choice of dress. It results in the most mundane actions being perceived as being religious when performed by Muslim women. An example of this can be seen with the 2004 ban on hijabs in public schools. In response to this ban, some Muslim students began wearing bandanas — which other people in French society also wore. In some schools, the wearing of bandanas by Muslim girls was then policed by schools and if a bandana was deemed “too modest” then the wearer was liable to be excluded from school. This position was upheld by the French Council of State — France's highest court — in 2006 on the basis that the bandana was deemed by the court to have been worn for a religious reason. The wave of bans against the burkini is also motivated on the basis of promoting “public order”. Instead, it will achieve the opposite. As NPA member Ugo Paleta points out, linking the wearing of particular clothes associated with Muslims, such as the burkini, with support for terrorism creates an image of all Muslims as potential threats to French society. It works to strengthen the discourse within France regarding the alleged “incompatibility of Islam with the French Republic”. The effect is that Muslims come to be seen as a “foreign body” within French society. This language serves to not only justify the draconian actions of French police in fining and excluding Muslim women from the beach for wearing burkinis and other covering clothing. It also legitimises the rising levels of Islamophobic violence against France's Islamic community — and places responsibility for this violence at the feet of the community rather with the perpetrators of that violence. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was originally published in Green Left Weekly #1108

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France: "Employment" Bill - After the government coup, the inter-union coordiation call for the amplification of mobilisations

Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Humanite.fr
CGT, FO, FSU, Solidaires, UNEF, UNL, FIDL call workers, youth, and students to strikes and demonstrations on May 17 and 19.

Draft Employment Law: Amplify the mobilization against the denial of democracy! Communique of the inter-union coordination.

While wage earners, young people, private sector employees, and retirees mobilised for more than two months for the withdrawal of the labor bill and to obtain new rights, and while public opinion remains overwhelmingly opposed to the text of the bill, the government decided to force it through using Clause 49.3[1]. Unacceptable!

These mobilisations forced the government to propose amendments[2] to the bill that would minimise its impacts. But this is not enough!

A labour code for business which undermines the "hierarchy of norms" which provides protection and equality, endures in the bill. Scandalous!

Several professional sectors continue to develop actions and strikes (railway, road transport, energy, chemicals, construction, Paris airport, etc.), which are supported by dynamic elements in pursuit of amplifying and expanding the balance of forces.

This reinforces the need to amplify the mobilisations already planned throughout the country for May 12.

From all this, the trade unions CGT, FO, FSU, Solidaires and youth organisations, UNEF, UNL and FIDL invite their structures to hold general meetings with the wage earners to discuss the forms of actions and strikes and for their renewal.

They call their organisations to build two new days of strikes and demonstrations for Tuesday, May 17 and Thursday, 19 May.

In addition, they do not depart from any initiatives for the coming weeks, including a national demonstration.

To assert their proposals they decide to go together to the President of the Republic to be received urgently.

A new meeting of trade unions will be held early next week to decide on new mobilisations.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 More than 5000 amendments were made to the bill when it was introduced into parliament, the text of the bill had also undergone significant changes during the process of it being accepted by the council of ministers - these changes had been aimed at splitting more conservative forces away from the more militant unions and to undermine mobilisations.

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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: Worker and Student Unions Call for Further Strikes and Protests on April 5 and April 9

CGT, FO, FSU, Solidaires, UNEF, UNL and FIDL

Joint Communique

March 31, 2016

The powerful day of strikes and demonstrations involving more than a million people in 260 cities demonstrated the unwavering determination of university and high school students, wage earners, private-employment and retirees to obtain both the withdrawal of the labour bill and to conquer new social rights.

The unions CGT, FO, FSU, Solidaires, UNEF, UNL and FIDL reaffirm that in a context of rising unemployment, explosion of precariousness and poverty, this text will organize a general regression of rights, creating a dumping social between companies of the same territory and the same branch and aggravate inequalities between wage earners.

Contrary to the government, labour bill would create in any case the permanent jobs needed for recovery and investment.

The government must listen to the thousands of university and high school student, wage earners, workers in private companies and retirees who were today in the streets and at the strike calls in many companies. They must hear calls on behalf of the 70% of the population who believe the government must remove the text, it is not amendable as its overall philosophy would remain unchanged.

The signatory unions argue again that governments must guarantee the right to demonstrate, to assemble, to organize, while ensuring the safety of protesters.

They confirm their readiness to meet with the government and make new proposals on rights in terms of employment, wages and pensions, working time, social protection, group benefits, working conditions, training and rights union freedoms. Bearing proposals for social progress and corresponding to the reality of work today and for tomorrow.

Already, new days of mobilization with strikes and demonstrations are planned and that on 5 April at the initiative of the youth organizations. The wage earners will mobilize in various forms, including with the interpellation of parliamentarians.

On April 9, they call for the success of a new great action day of strikes and demonstrations.

If the government does not respond, the trade unions CGT, FO, FSU, Solidaires, UNEF, UNL, LDIFs remain determined to continue and mobilization, including demonstrations and general strikes, for the withdrawal from the labour bill and conquer new social rights. They decided to meet again on 6 April.

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