Those of us who live in France have noticed the disruptions caused by protests against the government's proposed new Loi de Travail (labour laws). The government has watered down several proposals but is sticking to its position on Article 2, which puts work place agreements on hours ahead of industry wide union agreements. Meetings with unions and employers (separately) will be held in Paris today.
But just to spice things up, the right wing dominated Senate passed the Bill yesterday, but in a substantially hardened version. Abolition of the 35 hour week; inversion of national union agreements so that they are now the last element to consider in negotiations; restriction to compensation for dismissal. And they warned that if they (Les Republicans and UDI) win a majority in next year's elections this will be what they propose.
Manuel Valls and Myriam El Khomri will remove the amendments when the Bill comes back to the Assembly at the end of the week and may need, again, to use a parliamentary procedure to push their version through. We may be looking at a lot more protests over the next 12 months.
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