Students, Workers Strike Again in France
By JENNY BARCHFIELD,
Associated Press Writer - 24 minutes ago
news.yahoo.com
Students barricaded schools, workers walked off the job and protesters gathered Tuesday for what they hope is their biggest show of strength yet to demand the repeal of a jobs law that has riven the country.
For two months protesters have mounted ever larger, and at times bloody, demonstrations against a law that makes it easier to fire young workers. President Jacques Chirac signed it anyway Sunday, saying France needs the law to keep up with the world economy.
He offered modifications but students and unions rejected them, saying they want the law withdrawn, not softened.
"What Chirac has done is not enough," said 18-year-old Rebecca Konforti, among a group of students who jammed tables against the door of their high school in southern Paris to block entry Tuesday. "They're not really concessions. He just did it to calm the students."
Some 150 marches were planned Tuesday in cities nationwide, though an afternoon rally in Paris promises to be the biggest. Unions hope to match a similar action last week that brought at least 1 million people to the streets.
The capital was deploying 4,000 police in preparation. Previous demonstrations have degenerated into melees with rioters hurling concrete and police spraying tear gas and water cannons.
"We are on the edge of victory," Bruno Julliard, head of a leading students' union, said on France Inter radio.
The effects of the strikes were felt early Tuesday. Trains and public transport were disrupted in Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux and Alsace. Parisian commuters jammed onto limited subway trains, as traffic jams snarled highways around the capital.
Garbage bins in some Paris neighborhoods stood overflowing and uncollected by striking sanitation workers. Passengers at Paris' Orly Airport showed up hours early, girding for delays.
Many workers stayed home out of solidarity with the protesters, and many others stayed home because they took vacation days to avoid the inconveniences of the walkout.
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin devised the jobs law as a bid to push France into the global economy and stem youth unemployment. He argues it will encourage hiring by allowing employers to fire workers under 26 during their first two years on a job.
Critics say it threatens France's hallmark labor protections.
When Chirac signed the law Sunday he urged that it not be applied until a new, softer version is devised with two key modifications that take opponents' concerns into account.
Protesters said, however, that modifying the law was not enough. Union and student representatives have said talks were possible with lawmakers from the ruling UMP party, but reiterated their insistence that the contract be repealed.
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