France is in the grip of one of its worst industrial disputes in the past 20 years, with a wave of protests and strikes over controversial government reforms to labour laws.
Clashes have erupted between protesters and police, and union activists have stepped up blockades on refineries and transport that threaten to paralyse the country ahead of the Euro 2016 football championships that kick off in France on June 10.
The government says the law, named after Labour Minister Myriam El Khomri, is aimed at reducing stubbornly high unemployment and making France more business friendly.
Key parts of the legislation would let companies set their own working conditions for new employees, allowing managers to cut jobs during hard times and go beyond the 35-hour work week introduced in 2000.
There have been multiple revisions of the bill, but faced with a rebellion from within his own Socialist party, Prime Minister Manuel Valls used a special constitutional provision to force it through the lower house of parliament without a vote earlier this month.
It must still be approved by the upper house Senate to become law.
- End of 35-hour week? -
Article Two of the reform package is the most contentious. It gives agreements negotiated within companies priority over those negotiated with the government for an entire business sector.
The standard working week would remain at 35 hours but businesses could negotiate changes directly with staff.
Overtime compensation could also be limited to 10 percent instead of 25 percent currently.
Companies would have more leeway to make changes in pay and working hours to "preserve or develop employment".
The law would also change the criteria that allow companies to fire staff, if for example "significant decreases in orders or sales" are registered.
It stipulates the number of quarters over which such decreases must be recorded depending on the size of the company, up to four quarters for those with 300 employees or more.
Major trade unions fear the law could create tailored work codes for each company and lead to deteriorating conditions for employees.
With the presidential election just a year away, and the government vowing to reduce double-digit unemployment, both Valls and President Francois Hollande have staked a lot on getting the law adopted, insisting the process will continue "to the end".
Valls slapped down his own finance minister, Michel Sapin, who had suggested Article Two could be rewritten, but the law is deeply unpopular with left-wing Socialists and could create ruptures within the party if Hollande decides to run for re-election next year.
The government is locked in a particularly fierce tug of war with the CGT, France's largest trade union. Its leader, Philippe Martinez, has spearheaded general strikes across the country, blocking petrol refineries and organising walkouts at nuclear power plants.
France is in the grip of one of its worst industrial disputes in the past 20 years, with a wave of protests and strikes over controversial government reforms to labour laws.
Clashes have erupted between protesters and police, and union activists have stepped up blockades on refineries and transport that threaten to paralyse the country ahead of the Euro 2016 football championships that kick off in France on June 10.
The government says the law, named after Labour Minister Myriam El Khomri, is aimed at reducing stubbornly high unemployment and making France more business friendly.
Key parts of the legislation would let companies set their own working conditions for new employees, allowing managers to cut jobs during hard times and go beyond the 35-hour work week introduced in 2000.
There have been multiple revisions of the bill, but faced with a rebellion from within his own Socialist party, Prime Minister Manuel Valls used a special constitutional provision to force it through the lower house of parliament without a vote earlier this month.
It must still be approved by the upper house Senate to become law.
– End of 35-hour week? –
Article Two of the reform package is the most contentious. It gives agreements negotiated within companies priority over those negotiated with the government for an entire business sector.
The standard working week would remain at 35 hours but businesses could negotiate changes directly with staff.
Overtime compensation could also be limited to 10 percent instead of 25 percent currently.
Companies would have more leeway to make changes in pay and working hours to “preserve or develop employment”.
The law would also change the criteria that allow companies to fire staff, if for example “significant decreases in orders or sales” are registered.
It stipulates the number of quarters over which such decreases must be recorded depending on the size of the company, up to four quarters for those with 300 employees or more.
Major trade unions fear the law could create tailored work codes for each company and lead to deteriorating conditions for employees.
With the presidential election just a year away, and the government vowing to reduce double-digit unemployment, both Valls and President Francois Hollande have staked a lot on getting the law adopted, insisting the process will continue “to the end”.
Valls slapped down his own finance minister, Michel Sapin, who had suggested Article Two could be rewritten, but the law is deeply unpopular with left-wing Socialists and could create ruptures within the party if Hollande decides to run for re-election next year.
The government is locked in a particularly fierce tug of war with the CGT, France’s largest trade union. Its leader, Philippe Martinez, has spearheaded general strikes across the country, blocking petrol refineries and organising walkouts at nuclear power plants.
