Macron faces his first test in union protests
EMMANUEL Macron is braced for his first showdown on French streets this week, when the country’s biggest public sector union stages a day of strike protests against his labour law.
It will be the first of three major street demonstrations in the next two weeks – seen as a litmus test of the scale of resistance to the president’s radical reform agenda, at a time of slumping approval ratings.
Hundreds of thousands of workers are expected to down tools tomorrow and bang the drum against changes to the labour code Mr Macron rushed through by decree over the summer in an attempt to free up the stagnant jobs market.
At the helm of the biggest march in Paris will be Philippe Martinez, leader of hardline, Communist-backed CGT, France’s biggest state sector union.
Also taking part – but not by Mr Martinez’s side – will be Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the firebrand leader of far-left party France Unbowed. He will stage a separate mass demonstration on September 23 against what he calls a “social coup d’etat”.
“France hates reforms,” Mr Macron said last month, adding that it can only make changes in “spasms”. However, his government insists it has a clear mandate to proceed.
The change to France’s 3,000page labour code gives firms more flexibility to negotiate working conditions, caps unfair dismissal payouts from worker tribunals, allows small companies to bypass union agreements and makes it easier to hire for specific projects.
The law is to be rubber-stamped by the council of state on September 22. Some 194 protests are planned nationwide tomorrow against a reform which the CGT says will allow employers to “fire at will”.