I hope this will be the last I have to say on social unrest in my adopted land. For those of you who read the French riots article, you will no doubt have been locked into the latest news on de Villepin's stand down. Chirac was at last active and got cher Dominique to withdraw the law in order to devise another one to add to the existing 700 that dictate employment legislation in France and are the real cause of the debacle. This was the same Chirac who is portrayed as "SM" on the Guignols de l'Info on Canal Plus (Spitting Image), with SM not standing for Super Man but "Super Menteur" (super liar).
It is a fine mess to get your country into; not only are the UMP party (right) divided with one year to go before Chirac stands down, the viticulteurs are getting tough (creation of paramilitary wing called CRAV responsible for a bombing in Languedoc) and numerous other unresolved issues such as the problem of the suburbs.
On the front line at the demos we found all the characters - unionists, university students, parents and of course "lascars" (badboys). By the end of the series of demos, millions of people had protested and for some they had taken part in the ritual taunting of then CRS (you'd love to do it too 'cos they look well dim!). Ironically, on the 28th March, while thousands of youngsters were rolling their ciggies and chilling the cheap red, many other young people took the day off to go to the annual summer jobs fair. Seems fair enough to actually be out looking for it!
I am a veteran of looking for work in France, of doing it well and being on the dole. It is tough and the red tape is more like a solid curtain, inpenitrable and chasm-like. Once in the trap it is tough. I remember the smiles of solidarity in the Town Hall from the French with coffee coloured skin when me too I came up against the old maxim - " you do not have the correct papers!".
The young people in France who are most in need of the jobs are the ones from the tough "cites" and not necessarily the ones who will go on to do their A levels and four years at the Fac (ulty). In the demos, it was the latter who were shouting the most. We get the impression that for some, direct action is not about painting your face and smoking a cone in a procession and paying hommage to the 68 crew while blocking the TGV line, it is more about the daily need to survive and make a living by convincing employers that you are the one for the job. The marginals were not all their, they were down at the ANPE (job centre) looking for that post or hoping that their meagre GCSE would suffice.
If you feel that young Herbie is being unfair to all those who put off their revision for a month please write back. Also, when going through the port of Bologne recently after going on a Bourgie champagne tasting, Herbie was held up by a fisherboat blockade of the port. When he asked the ferry employee if they had burnt the huge hole in the road, he replied "non monsieur, c'etait les etudiants!".
Au boulot... Herbie
#10 April 2006
Comments...
Not unfair at all. The law was put into place to help the disadvantaged youth of France. Its the graduates (bac +4 and upwards) who had originally protested because they lost what they see as they're right to the interminable job security their parents enjoyed. You see, in France, if you get a government job, you've got pretty much 100% job security because unions are very powerful in France and the government usually needs their support to stay in power (as in every country in which unions have not been dissolved).
To be fair to the over qualified graduates, they have studied hard to obtain the neccessary academic qualifications to even get a job. The Baccalaureat is a difficult exam. Sadly, adn typically, their fight was heavily supported by the CGT (french communist party) who could not afford to miss an opportunity like this to get some publicity.
I wasn't aware of the paramilitaries.
Posted by: Ken Dong | 9:37pm 12 April 2006
Lets get back to the root of the problem and add a little music -
http://www.sarkotusors.org/
Action is taking place in France and the elections in 2007 will be the biggest event since 1789 - blood is already beginning to spill but you haven't seen anything yet !
Posted by: Sarko - Fils de Pute | 7:58pm 16 April 2006
I just thought that it was the CEP that was causing all the troubles for the students, since it gives comapnies the right to fire them without reason as long as they do it before two years have passed.
A friend of mine has just spent a year and a half as an intern in four different companies, all in the same field, but they all fired her. She spends her time going from company to company, already trained, and they all take advantage of it to not pay her (interns aren't payed) and to fire her when they won't commit...
Another friend of mine actually spent a year and ten months working for an IT company, and was layed off just before christmas...Again, unpaid because he is an intern...
Posted by: Lemonn | 12:14am 19 April 2006
I agree with the concerns Lemonn. The case of your friends is highlighted by the pressure group http://www.generation-precaire.org who lobby for the clarification of the legal rights of internes or "stagieres". They recently met Chirac to voice their concerns over being a free source of labour not only in the public but the private sector too. They are sick to death of living a precarious existence and affecting the demography of modern France. I have met many young French in Britain and they have one concern: to work and get paid.
Many are here because our labour market is flexible enough to accomodate them and that our market economy would not survive without them.
The young workforce have a right to feel agrieved but it is perhaps a French malaise in which the employee feels they have the right to an easy ride and rights beyond those that many other countries give. Maybe it is because of precedent and slack workers always on strike that make labour laws so rigid, as it contributes to mistrust that reigns between workers and the bosses.
In any case, with the closure of Peugeot in Coventry and the support from the French workers imminent, maybe those workers should also fear for their jobs because the cars can be produced cheaper in Prague than in France.
The only advice in France is to say persevere and work hard cos they don not like slackers. I should know dudes- I nearly got deported for striking in 1992.
Herbie
Posted by: Herbie | 2:49pm 20 April 2006