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French students, unions protest against labor reforms

09 March 2016 21:08 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. French students and trade unions staged protest marches across the country on Wednesday against far-reaching labor reforms, testing President Francois Hollande's mettle as he tries to lower an unemployment rate still stuck above 10 percent, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Organizers said hundreds of thousands of people took part and the interior ministry put the figure at 224,000, though that is less than in some previous nationwide demonstrations in France - a possible sign that unions are struggling to mobilize public anger against Hollande's unpopular Socialist government.

Unions said the protests were just "a warm-up" ahead of further planned rallies, however, and the government will be keen to prevent the simmering discontent among students, traditionally at the forefront of France's largest protest movements, from boiling over in coming weeks.

Up to 100,000 young people took part in Wednesday's rallies, the unions said. Some 90 of France's 2,500 secondary schools were blocked by their students, the education ministry said.

"Stop stamping on our right to a future," one banner in the southern port city of Marseille read, with much of the anger targeted at Labour Minister Myriam El Khomri, who is spearheading the reforms.

"This bill is supposed to help hiring but all I see is that it helps dismissal," Bouchra Jellab of student group Unef told Reuters TV.

Public opinion appeared divided, with 50 percent of respondents in an Elabe poll supporting the protests, a quarter opposing them and another quarter expressing indifference.

The government's reforms put almost all aspects of France's strictly codified rules on labor relations up for negotiation.

Everything from maximum working hours to holidays and pay on rest breaks would be open to scrutiny in an attempt to free up business, but the main focus is on plans to limit the cost of laying off workers.