Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, and union workers went on strike across France on Tuesday to protest government plans to overhaul the country’s labour regulations, reports The New York Times.
The rallies were the first major protests faced by President Emmanuel Macron, and they will test how he and his government respond to opposition to his plans to revamp the French economy.
Mr. Macron, however, was nowhere near the protests. He arrived in the Caribbean on Tuesday to visit the French islands of St. Martin and St. Barthélemy, after they were hit by Hurricane Irma last week.
Protests took place in Lyon, Nantes, Paris, Toulouse and a dozen other cities, led by unions and left-wing parties who say that worker rights are being watered down by the overhaul of the French labour code, which is known as the Code du Travail.
The changes to the code would loosen regulations for small companies, make it easier to hire and fire employees, and enable businesses to negotiate certain workplace issues at the company level rather than having to abide by industrywide agreements.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the founder of the left-wing France Insoumise (France Unbowed) party, said on Tuesday that Mr. Macron “can and must back down.” France Unbowed is organizing a separate demonstration against the labour overhaul on September 23rd.
“This isn’t our last stand,” Mr. Mélenchon told reporters at a demonstration in the southern city of Marseille, which is part of the area he represents in the lower house of Parliament. “We are organizing a relentless defense of the labour code.”
But the government is not expected to budge. Mr. Macron is enacting the overhaul to the labour rules by decree, and the changes are expected to be implemented this month.
Read more of this report from The New York Times.
See also:
The blush-saving rhetoric surrounding France's labour law reforms