France Grinds To A Halt: Why Are Workers’ Unions Protesting?

Students and workers have poured into the streets of France to protest proposals to reform public sector jobs. Riots and strikes plagued the country as news media reported that over three lakh protesters had taken to the streets against French President Emmanuel Macron’s labour reform policies.

The Ministry of interior said 323,000 people took part in the nationwide protest, while the country's second largest trade union, the General Confederation of Labour, put the number at about half a million.

Public sector employees from national railway company, commonly known as SNCF, were joined by employees of the national carrier Air France and other public servants as they took to the streets of the capital, refusing to work which meant that travel inside France and into or out of it was severely restricted. Around 30 percent of flights were cancelled at Orly, Charles de Gaulle and Beauvais airports with Air France cancelling up to 40% of its short-haul flights. Ryanair intervened to call for smooth functioning of skies over Europe.

Protesters clashed with police in Paris pelting them with projectiles and armed police resorted to firing tear gas shells and water cannons to disperse protesters. Many of those on the streets were heard chanting: “Together, let’s derail Macron.” Apart from Paris, news reports said that violent clashes also broke out in the French city of Nantes.

Unions deliberately chose March 22nd as the launch date for the strikes to coincide with the start of France's legendary protests in 1968 that saw pitched street battles between police and students. The period is known as May 1968 with a significant place in France’s history of labour battles.

The demonstrators are protesting Macron's plans to trim public sector employee’s retirement benefits, overhaul unemployment insurance and allow SNCF’s competitors to enter the French market which has a decades long monopoly. Merit-based pay and eliminating redundancies were also part of Macron’s plan, fueling further outrage from public sector workers. Macron has also promised a reduction in corporate taxes and cuts to the nation’s deficit.

For its part, the French government says that it will maintain "a listening attitude but also a great determination to continue the reforms." The government has insisted that it will stay the course of reforms to cut state spending in the tightly controlled public sector labour markets and railroad system in order to stimulate the stagnant economy. It hopes that the public will become exasperated by the disruption and turn against the strikes.

According to polls published in the Nouvel Observateur and France Inter, the mobilization is supported by half the population, at the same time the respondents also agree with the need for the government reforms.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 23, 2018 09:59 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).