PARIS (AP) – After a month of often violent protests, French lawmakers on Tuesday started to debate a hotly contested labor bill that would make it easier to lay off workers, weaken some union powers, and relax rules regulating the country’s 35-hour workweek.
The reform, aimed at making France more globally competitive, faces an uphill battle. President Francois Hollande’s Socialist government has watered it down to soothe his leftist base, but it still reportedly lacks enough support to be adopted by the National Assembly.
Amid overall frustration at France’s economic stagnation, the bill has galvanized opposition from unions and a violent fringe of youth who have clashed repeatedly with police at protests.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered peacefully Tuesday at the Invalides, a square located near the National Assembly, many shouting “labor law, no thank you!”
The head of the Force Ouvriere union, Jean-Claude Mailly, called on the government to withdraw the bill. The labor reform “destroys social rights and corresponds to the dangerous and unproven principle that we need to ease layoffs today so that employment recovers tomorrow,” he said.