French jobs law protests fizzle out

Nationwide protests yesterday against French labour reforms fizzled for the first time in more than a month, after French President Jacques Chirac caved in to pressure from angry students and unions and jettisoned a youth jobs measure.

The protesters’ victory, coupled with spring vacations, depleted turnout at marches by students who had hoped to capitalise on the momentum and force the government to withdraw other reforms too.

Scattered blockages were reported around the country by students using unusual methods to make their voices heard but, in contrast to earlier protests, no violence was reported.

Meanwhile, in the National Assembly, the last act of the weeks-long drama was being played out last night as lawmakers opened debate on a four-measure package to replace the much maligned “first job contract.”

The new plan could be passed by today, but might not make it to the Senate until May, after the parliamentary recess that starts on Friday night, several parliamentary officials indicated. With the governing conservatives’ strong majority, the bill was expected to pass easily.

The head of the UNEF student union that led the protests, Bruno Julliard, listened to the debate in the public stands.

Unlike the contested law, the new measure is but an extension of earlier laws in place. Significantly, it is directed only at disadvantaged youths like those who rioted in largely immigrant big city suburbs last fall.

The measure withdrawn on Monday had applied to anyone under 26, and students feared it would curtail coveted job protections. It was meant to encourage hiring by allowing employers to fire without cause during a two-year trial period.

But it also was an effort by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to introduce some flexibility into France’s rigid labour laws to prep the economy for an increasingly competitive world.

Just 2,300 students marched in north-east Paris, according to police - compared to 84,000 people counted at a protest a week ago that drew 1 million participants nationwide.

Only the most unrelenting took to the streets to press for the withdrawal of an entire package of equal opportunity laws voted in response to the fall riots.

So thin were the ranks that the demonstration was over in just two hours. Riot police, who have ended earlier protests battling unruly crowds, with tear gas got in their vehicles and drove home.

The day was marked by scattered actions, like the hours-long blocking of 500 city buses at two depots in Toulouse, in the southwest.

Protesters turned out in Bordeaux in the southwest, Rennes in western France and Grenoble in the southeast – where two universities remain totally blocked.

The Education Ministry said that of the 62 universities not closed for spring break only 31 functioned normally with four totally closed.

In the past two days, students at about 15 universities voted to return to class, according to UNEF, a leading student union.

At Poitiers, in the west, university students voted to give up their blockades – in place since Feb. 13.