French PM in uphill fight for labour reform plan

France's Socialist government will this week hold a round of negotiations aimed at salvaging its proposed labour reforms, as it faces fierce opposition to the draft bill and the spectre of street protests on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Sunday pledged to make "improvements" to the text, which has driven a wedge within the Socialist Party, infuriated labour unions and prompted a massively followed online petition.

Valls, who will on Monday launch a round of meetings with union and business leaders, told the weekly Journal du Dimanche that the draft should be "improved" and "completed", but added: "What we cannot do is maintain the status quo."

But the Force Ouvriere union said a revision was out of the question and repeated its demand that the proposed reforms be scrapped altogether.

"It's not one, two or a few articles that need to be modified but the entire text that won't do," Pascal Pavageau, the FO's economy pointman, said Sunday. Rather than "negotiate the weight of the ball and the length of the chain... we call on (Valls) to withdraw this text," he said.
Unveiled in mid-February, the El Khomri law named after Labour Minister Myriam El Khomri is designed to give employers more flexibility in hiring and firing, but critics say it unduly threatens job security.

On Sunday Valls insisted: "This labour law means more transparency for businesses and more protection for employees."

And he dismissed suggestions last week that the government could push the reforms through by resorting to a manoeuvre to bypass parliament, saying the law would be "brought to fruition with the necessary changes".

- A million signatures -

The prime minister faces strong opposition from the left flank of his own Socialist Party, while seven in 10 French are opposed to the changes, according to a poll.

A number of organisations including youth groups have called demonstrations for Wednesday and later in the month to protest against the plans, which many think will fail to create jobs.
At 25 percent, youth unemployment in France is among the highest in Europe.

The online petition titled "Labour Law: No Thanks", initiated by 35-year-old feminist Caroline de Haas, has attracted more than a million signatures, but it is a wild card in the mix, since it is unclear what will come of the initiative.

The reforms are part of efforts to combat stubborn unemployment in a country where employers are loath to take on permanent workers because of stiff obstacles to laying them off in lean times.

France, the eurozone's second largest economy, is under pressure from the European Commission to bring down labour costs as well as its 10.2 percent joblessness rate.

Currently French companies have to justify in court plans to shed workers due to an economic downturn, a process they say makes them reluctant to hire in the first place.
The reform spells out simple conditions such as falling orders or sales, or operating losses, as sufficient cause for shedding staff.

The law would also allow employers to work around unions and negotiate working conditions such as overtime pay and maximum working hours directly with their employees.

It would also cap the total amount of damages claims they may have to pay in case of litigation.

The proposals were initially set to be submitted to the cabinet on Wednesday, but in the face of the opposition last week this date was shifted to March 24.

University and high school student groups as well as labour unions have called for protests on Wednesday, which has also been designated for work stoppages by the Paris Metro and the French national rail company SNCF, upset over working conditions.