Posted on 04/04/2006 12:28:39 PM PDT by ex-Texan
PARIS (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators joined rallies across France on Tuesday in a fresh assault by students and striking public sector workers on a youth hire-and-fire contract.
Two months of sometimes violent demonstrations took their toll on the popularity of the contract's main champion, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, whose ratings in a new poll slid 14 points in a month to 28 percent in March.
Unions said the turnout should reach the three million figure seen in last week's protests, among the biggest in France's 48-year-old Fifth Republic.
Police estimates were not immediately available but were expected to be much lower. Police said one million joined the demonstrations on March 28, a third of organisers' estimates.
"The only solution is to scrap it (the law)," Lisa Mancin, an 18-year-old student said before the main rally in Paris.
President Jacques Chirac's conservatives have stopped short of agreeing to withdraw the law but, faced with sliding poll ratings and internal rifts, hinted they could make concessions.
Villepin told a rowdy parliament session the government would not "throw in the towel". But the long-time Chirac ally risked being sidelined as Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, his main rival to lead the right in 2007 presidential elections, emerged as a possible broker to end the conflict.
The fall in Villepin's approval ratings in the survey by pollster BVA for L'Express magazine was "of a size rarely seen since BVA started (June 1981) measuring the popularity of prime ministers", BVA said in a commentary.
"There is new blood in this movement," CGT union chief Bernard Thibault said of the protests, closely watched for signs they had peaked after the softer line adopted by Chirac.
"I hope these rallies will help us deal it the fatal blow," he said of the First Job Contract (CPE) giving firms the right to lay off under-26s any time in a two-year period.
"VIRTUAL PRIME MINISTER"
CPE backers say it will free up the labour market by allowing employers to bypass French laws which make it hard to lay off workers once on their books -- often cited by firms as a disincentive for taking on staff.
One placard depicting Villepin as an angel read: "In memory of a virtual prime minister", while many wore stickers stating: "One solution: revolution against global capitalism".
The mood was festive and police kept a low profile.
Unions said 700,000 marched in Paris, the same as last week, while some 250,000 took part in the southern city of Marseille, maintaining turnout there. Figures in the southwest city of Bordeaux rose to 120,000 from 100,000 last week, unions said. Police estimates were a third of those figures.
Disruption was less than a week ago. Around a third of flights were cancelled and others delayed, but unions said 80 percent of trains were running across the country with city underground networks largely unaffected.
Chirac has urged a softening of parts of the legislation, for example halving the trial period to a year, and his conservatives signalled further possible climb-downs.
"We'll be ready as of tomorrow to receive the unions ... There won't be any limits to the talks," said Bernard Accoyer, parliamentary chief of Chirac's conservatives.
But unions have vowed to resist overtures for talks unless the conservatives pledge to scrap the CPE and start anew on ways to tackle chronic youth joblessness stuck at 22 percent.
Chirac's declaration on Friday that he would sign the CPE bill even as he called for amendments, was seen as a bid to stave off the possibility Villepin would resign.
But the move could weaken Villepin and boost the hand of Sarkozy, the chief of Chirac's UMP party who will now have a major role in any amendments and negotiations.
Sarkozy, who heads a rival faction to Chirac and Villepin within France's right, makes no secret of his hope to be the main conservative candidate for president in polls next year.
That must be why our representatives want to rush that legislation through quickly. Limbaugh was talking earlier today about the history of illegal immigration in America. In part, he blamed Congress for bowing to pressure from industry officials. He said our elected representatives contacted INS officials quietly and loudly complained about law enforcement. I bet his telephone is ringing off the hook with calls from D.C. today.
Let's see, they don't want to fight, don't want to bath, and they don't want to work. Have I left anything out?
de Villepin is as French (aka "Left") as they come. Nonethless the mere suggestion of the slightest decrease in the socialist system earns him this kind of reaction.
And from the young, no less.
There's little hope for France.
A friend in Great Britain tells me that part of the problem in france is illegal immigration. Apparently it isn't illegal to hire an illegal immigrant in france and many of the jobs go to illegals.
It's the fault of the french all the way around.
Can you imagine a country where Chirac is the conservative? Yikes.
In a socialist state like that I don't blame the employers. The root problem is the socialist state.
And I just read about the planned May 1 mass boycott in the U.S. to support amnesty for illegals..Organized by ANSWER which is every anti-American group in the world...
"There's little hope for France."
But they do provide entertainment!
Nothing will change in the U.S. until our streets are filled with protests, too. On second though, nothing will ever change. Americans are too exhausted from working to protest.
What you say may apply to France, I don't know. But it has less relevance to the Mexico illegal immigration problem. The majority of the illegal Mexicans are performing menial tasks and are not competing with our college graduates. So in our case the illegal immigration problem is more a security issue then a jobs issue.
Our job competition concerns are with legal immigrants from India, China, etc. The IEEE of which I belong has been lobbying intensively for limited legal immigration from these countries. Immigration across the board is a big problem here and in France but for differing reasons we need to separate out and keep distinct.
But part of it is as simple as, today, it is dang near impossible to fire anyone in France. Now, with this law, at least there is this sort of probationary period for new grads. Oh the horror! New grads can be fired at will for screwing up!
Please open your eyes a bit. You obviously do not live in California. Mexican illegals may go to college at the taxpayers expense. They have flooded the junior college system and now flood state colleges. They get top priority over life long state residents because they are a 'minority.' There are illegals from El Salvador living in La La Land who graduated from high school and obtained a college degree. I have met them personally.
Sure looks like they know how to party!Hey Jon,what are you doing tonite?Ah,the same old stuff,head to the riot and see whats left to burn!
"France's 48-year-old Fifth Republic." The Sixth Republic is waiting in the wings.
No, I never plan to live in California! :-)
Explain to me how California is stupid enough to pay illegals to go to College. How does that work?
Most illegals are cutting grass, working in restauarants, etc. College graduates have much more to fear from a competitive standpoint from legal immigrants from India and China than they do from illegal Mexicans.
The main national problem with illegal immigration is security not jobs. California should clean up its own problem though.
She never bothered to apply for U.S. citizenship. I last saw her at an exclusive gathering at the home of a Canadian film director. She had been working for $ 1,000 a week (cash off the books) as a house keeper for a major Hollywood producer. She was very happy because she had just written a script and sold it to a studio.
She returns to her home country every year. Say hello to the New World Order where anybody can live anywhere.
Thanks for the story. So this person attends college but turns out to be a ... housekeeper. I must have misunderstood your earlier point. I thought you were saying that illegal Mexican immigrants were stealing jobs from our college graduates. This story doesn't seem to support that.
What I was curious about was how illegals can attend CA college for free (which is what you said earlier or did I miss something?). Is that true? How does that work? Don't they have to pay to go to CA state colleges?
My Paris Riot Haiku:
Youth of France March Proud
Real men do not work but bow
Are noodles are limp.
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