Labour unions lead anti-reform protests in Paris, sustaining standoff with government

Record ID: 101858

  • Title: Labour unions lead anti-reform protests in Paris, sustaining standoff with government
  • Date: 26th May 2016
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (MAY 26, 2016) (REUTERS) FORCE OUVRIERE (FO OR WORKERS' FORCE) UNION BALLOONS FLOATING AS PROTESTERS GATHER BEFORE BEGINNING MARCH PROTESTERS GATHERED, PREPARING TO MARCH PROTESTER SITTING ON TOP OF VAN SURROUNDED BY UNION FLAGS AND FLOATING BALLOON LABOUR UNION CGT CHIEF, PHILIPPE MARTINEZ, IN CROWD SPEAKING TO JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) LABOUR UNION CGT CHIEF, PHILIPPE MARTINEZ, SAYING: "We're in a time of a different fight. Workers feel like they were not heard when they demonstrated. Well, they decided to change their way of fighting. It's what we proposed to them, it takes time. But democracy must live on in companies." CROWD OF PROTESTERS GATHERED WITH UNION FLAGS PREPARING TO MARCH (SOUNDBITE) LABOUR UNION CGT CHIEF, PHILIPPE MARTINEZ, SAYING: "More than 70 percent (of French people) are in favour of the withdrawal of the labour bill. It shows, contrary to what I've heard in the mouths of officials, that we are not a minority, or a sect, or I don't know what." PROTESTERS MARCHING WITH CGT UNION FLAGS WITH PLACE DE LA BASTILLE MONUMENT IN BACKGROUND PROTESTERS HOLDING UP CLOTH BANNER READING (French): "General strike. The citizen 49.3 (constitutional decree to bypass the majority to push through a bill)." (SOUNDBITE) (French) LEADER OF THE FO UNION, JEAN-CLAUDE MAILLY, SAYING: "Well the government is deaf, what do you want me to say? The prime minister (Manuel Valls) must buy himself a hearing aid. We have a prime minister that has dug in his heels, who says 'we'll slightly modify the famous article that causes the most objections' but without withdrawing his approach so the response on the other side is no. As long as the prime minister keeps his heels dug in, the conflict will go on." CGT UNION BALLOONS WITH PLACE DE LA BASTILLE MONUMENT IN BACKGROUND VAN CARRYING CGT UNION FLAGS AND BALLOON AND WITH SIGN ON SIDE READING (French): "Withdrawal of the (French labour minister Myriam) El Khomri labour bill." PROTESTERS GATHERED WAITING TO MARCH CGT UNION SIGN ON JACKET (SOUNDBITE) (French) CGT UNION MEMBER, CHRISTOPHE PICARD, SAYING: "Well it started in a friendly atmosphere, nicely. Mr. Valls wanted to step it up a notch, so we stepped it up a notch and now we're going to go quite far I think because we really don't want this law, he really doesn't want to understand that. We've been told that we've taken the people hostage, it's a fact but this man doesn't want to understand things. So there's a moment when it must stop, there are dictatorships that have fallen so I think we can manage to bring down a democracy." PROTESTERS MARCHING WITH FO UNION FLAGS AND BALLOONS PROTESTER WHO WORKS FOR WORKERS RIGHTS, MICHAEL, AND HIS SON, STANDING CLOSE TO DEMONSTRATION (SOUNDBITE) (French) PROTESTER WHO WORKS FOR WORKERS RIGHTS, MICHAEL, SAYING: "To protest because I think this labour bill is extremely badly put together, substantially as much as methodically. (French president Francois) Hollande, 10 years ago said it was scandalous to use the 49.3 and he puts it through by force, it's already the second instance during his government. He's going to have to use it again, once the bill will be debated in the Senate and it comes back to Parliament, there are strong chances he will use it again. At the same time they're already put forward infringements, which we've seen with the extra hours for transporters, so there you go. It's even more damaging that it's a left-wing government who is passing these kind of measures." CROWD OF PROTESTERS WITH CGT UNION BALLOONS AND FLAGS PROTESTERS WAVING CGT UNION FLAGS WITH PLACE DE LA BASTILLE MONUMENT IN BACKGROUND
  • Embargoed: 10th June 2016 14:37
  • Keywords: France labour reforms protests union workers strike Myriam El Khomri
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • City: PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0014JG3VWN
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: French labour unions led the demonstration in Paris on Thursday (May 26), the eighth day of nationwide demonstrations against labour reforms, with France's hardline CGT union on the frontline.
    CGT has sought to choke off power and fuel supplies and hamper the public transport network in a showdown with a government that flatly refused to withdraw a contested labour reform bill.
    Protesters gathered at Place de la Bastille on Paris's right bank, waving flags as union balloons floated above them with the crowd preparing to march.
    After months of rolling protests sparked by a reform bill that seeks to make hiring and firing easier, Thursday's stoppages and street marches were being watched closely as a test of whether the CGT-led opposition is solid or at risk of fizzling out.
    Prime Minister Manuel Valls insisted the government would not withdraw the law and would break up refinery blockades, saying there could be some tweaks to the reforms but not on any of its key planks. He was backed by the country's other big trade union, the CFDT.
    Valls has called the unionists carrying out the refinery strikes a "minority".
    "More than 70 percent (of French people) are in favour of the withdrawal of the labour bill. It shows, contrary to what I've heard in the mouths of officials, that we are not a minority, or a sect, or I don't know what," CGT chief Philippe Martinez said.
    Protesters also took issue with the government's use of constitutional decree 49.3 to bypass the majority to push the contentious bill through.
    As tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, workers responded to the union call by stopping work at oil refineries, nuclear power plants and the railways, as well as erecting road blocks and burning wooden pallets and tyres at key ports like Le Havre and near key distribution hubs.
    Valls said the bill would not be withdrawn but that he would in no case scrap the part of the law that put the CGT on the warpath in the first place.
    A move the leader of the smaller FO union, Jean-Claude Mailly, said would not make enough of an impact to calm discontent.
    "Well the government is deaf, what do you want me to say? The prime minister (Manuel Valls) must buy himself a hearing aid. We have a prime minister that has dug in his heels, who says 'we'll slightly modify the famous article that causes the most objections' but without withdrawing his approach so the response on the other side is no. As long as the prime minister keeps his heels dug in, the conflict will go on," he said.
    That part of the law would allow firms to opt out of national obligations on labour protection if they adopt in-house deals on pay and conditions with the consent of a majority of employees.
    However, in a further sign of disagreements within the ruling Socialist party over how to find a way out of the crisis, Finance Minister Michel Sapin told LCP television that "maybe" that article of the bill should be tweaked.
    The CGT is waging a lonelier battle this time. Laurent Berger, head of the rival CFDT union and a backer of the planned labour reform, said: "The political and industrial relations climate has turned hysterical ... let's calm things down."
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