04-03-06,9:14am

If you want to see massive popular resistance to unfair labor laws, it helps to look overseas. France is a good place to start. On March 28th, across France people gathered in solidarity against a new law, making their voices heard all over the world. Ranging from gatherings of 100 people in smaller towns to the 700,000 protesters in Paris, Force-Ouvrière, one of the twelve confederations of French unions organizing the protests, estimated that a total of 3 million French workers took to the streets. The number 3 million, said Bernard Thibault the general secretary of the CGT, another confederation, was “historic. It is unthinkable that the Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, could remain dead-set on his position” regarding the new law.

The other organizing confederations included the CFDT, the CFTC and the CFE-CGC. One of the ways they managed to get so many people to show up was by calling on retired workers as well as current members of all professions to protest the laws. The people on the streets ranged in age from high school students to senior citizens.

The law they were protesting, called the CPE or “New Workers’ Contract,” would allow employers to fire workers under the age of 26 with little or no cause if they have worked for less than two years at that job. Previously companies needed to prove that a worker was not doing his job or that the company could no longer afford the number of workers it employed before it could fire anybody, but if the CPE comes into effect, young workers would lose their job security.

Though the law does not affect workers over the age of 26 directly, it discriminates based on age and could be the start to further erosion of workers rights. As a March 20th declaration by the twelve involved union organizations put it, the CPE would “mortgage off the jobs and the futures of the youth.”

While de Villepin claims he wants to meet with union leaders to negotiate, he insists that they first accept the CPE and modify it afterwards. Union leaders are struggling to understand this strategy. Why can’t they negotiate with out having already agreed to the CPE? “It is in no one’s interest for the situation to let the situation keep rotting,” said Jacques Voisin of the CFTC.

Ninety of France’s one hundred administrative regions had at least one protest location, and many had multiple sites. The March 28th protest had about twice as many participants as a previous one on March 18th. Another protest is being organized for next Tuesday, April 4th, and is expected yet again to increase the number of people protesting. François Chérèque of the CFDT put it best. “Each week there are more and more of us, and each week we can do better.”