Unions in France defy Hollande on labour market reforms

With no sign of movement on either side, the prospect of long disruptions encroaching on Euro 2016 will make Irish fans nervous

The trial of strength between the French Socialist government and left-wing trade unions led by the CGT that has been severely disrupting fuel and power supplies and both air and rail transport systems has a very old-fashioned quality to it.

Not to mention the street demonstrations and pickets that have descended into violence and the long queues for petrol. More 1970s than 2010s, one might think. But that’s the point. France’s inability to reform its labour laws has left the country in the sort of time warp industrially that most other European countries have left behind decades ago.

The structural reform of the labour markets envisaged in the government’s controversial labour law – largely to make hiring and firing easier – was stymied by a rebellion from its own ranks in parliament, forcing François Hollande’s government to introduce it in the lower house by executive order. It is still to go to the Senate.

But, emboldened by the clear minority support for the legislation, the Communist Party-leaning CGT, supported by other unions like Force Ouvriere, stepped up its essentially political campaign to force a retreat on Hollande. And it is well aware that prolonged industrial chaos will put the kybosh on his already-forlorn presidential ambitions for next year.

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Although union membership is traditionally small in France, the CGT dominates elections for local worker representatives and its long-standing strategic control of key workplaces, like the rail or power industry, gives the union muscle beyond its numbers.

How long its members will be willing , however, to keep up industrial action that hits their own pockets and antagonises the public is the key question – ministers have boasted that by dipping into national petrol reserves they could keep going for a full three months.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls insists that the reforms are vital to boosting growth and cutting unemployment that stands at 10 per cent. "There is no question of changing tack, even if adjustments are always possible," he said, making clear that any such adjustments will not be to the fundamental basis of the law. And specifically to dilute provisions which 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. Unions are also opposed to cuts in minimum overtime pay.

Similar mass protests forced President Jacques Chirac into a u-turn on pensions, the retirement age and reform of the state transport system. Workers were not so successful, however, with Nicolas Sarkozy who, like Hollande, forcibly broke the blockade of refineries.

But,with no sign of movement on either side, the prospect is for long disruptions even encroaching on Euro 2016 soccer championship which starts on June 10th. Irish fans will be nervous.