California Conservative

The S.F. Chronicle reports: “Police loosed water cannons and tear gas on rioting students and activists rampaged through a McDonald’s and attacked store fronts in the capital Saturday as demonstrations against a plan to relax job protections spread in a widening arc across France.”

What is it about fast food that today’s rioters hate so much? Evidently, not a happy meal. But on a more serious note:

The protests, which drew some 500,000 people in cities across the country, were the biggest show yet of escalating anger that is testing the strength of the conservative government before elections next year.
. . .

With commerce snarled in some cities, people asked whether Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin would stand firm on implementing the change that he says is needed to encourage hiring. The usually outspoken leader was silent Saturday.

Protest organizers urged President Jacques Chirac on Saturday to prevent the law from taking effect as expected in April.

The group issued an ultimatum, saying it expects an answer by Monday, when leaders will decide whether to continue protests that have paralyzed at least 16 universities and dominated political discourse for weeks.

“We give them two days to see if they understand the message we’ve sent,” said Rene Jouan of the CFDT union.

And we think American unions are bad. Guess that’s the lesson of what happens if you extend them too much liberal priviledge as the French have done.

So what’s the rub?

Widespread discontent with the government has crystalized around a new type of job contract that Villepin says will alleviate France’s sky-high youth unemployment by getting companies to risk hiring young workers.

Critics say the contract abolishes labor protections crucial to the social fabric.

“Aren’t we the future of France?” asked Aurelie Silan, a 20-year-old student who joined a river of protesters in Paris.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell in a crowd. Especially if some are distracting from your message.

Waves of red union flags topped the densely packed crowd in Paris, which overflowed into side streets and stretched more than 3 1/2 miles under bright sunshine.
. . .

In Marseille, extreme leftist youths climbed the facade of City Hall, replacing a French flag with a banner reading “Anticapitalism.” Police used tear gas to disperse them and made several arrests.

Police also fired tear gas at a protest in Clermont-Ferrand, a central city where 10,000 people marched and about 100 youths threw beer cans and other projectiles at a building.

They obviously didn’t get the message that this was about jobs. Anti-capitalism is next week.

The law would allow businesses to fire young workers in the first two years on a job without giving a reason, removing them from protections that restrict layoffs of regular employees.

Companies are often reluctant to add employees because it is hard to let them go if business conditions worsen. Students see a subtext in the new law: make it easier to hire and fire to help France compete in a globalizing world economy.

So, let’s review: Unemployment is sky-high. Under current laws, companies are reluctant to hire.

New law being proposed will give companies some flexibility, allowing them to create jobs, but students and the unions that incite them are against it because it might make France competitive.

Note to file: How not to be a successful nation.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 18th, 2006 at 6:47 pm and is filed under Capitalism, Culture, Europe, Youth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.