Protest: Vive La France!

I can't say much about the French, because I don't know much about that situation. But here in America, what with the immigration law protests going on in the southwest...The American government basically refuses to LET those folks contribute. What they don't know is, the illegal hispanics that they think are parasitic to our Great American Society are the ones building their great big houses and mowing their high-class lawns. And not to reap in the benefits (although there are few of them) for themselves, but for their families that they can't feed with a job back in Central America.

I hear my parents talk about blacks and how they "just want to play the victim, they're lazy, they aren't doing anything to help themselves, etc." I don't believe it's true, but I know with the Latino population, it's not true.

I have my own opinions about nonviolent vs. violent protesting, but I still think it's pretty great that students feel the need to make their voices heard. You don't see that very often when it comes to something extremely important like this. And what's even better is, a good lot of them aren't participating in walkouts to get out of school...they actually feel the need to make a change.

 

Changing the law will redue unemployment. So these people are protesting to keep people unemployed.

 

Fuck the French, on general principle

 

I don't blame the french for being pissed off, 1/4 of the 18-25 set can't get jobs because their labor market is regulated to the point where nobody wants to hire young people.

10% unemployment in france as it is, the French are seeing a market collapse for jobs, and they should be mad about it. They just don't know what to do about it.

An employer shouldn't be liable to hold on to an incompetent employee regardless of age. The French say yes because their already worried because so many don't have jobs, but it's a situation that will end all hopes of liberalization of the French economy.

As long as theirs such complicity between journalists and politicians in France, things probably aren't going to get any better for their job market either.

 

i haven't been able to find anything that explains exactly what this law is that is that people are protesting against. can someone explain it to me?

god, i why the hell can't people here be so passionate about things or even just slightly give a damn. if they were trying to do something like that in the US there would probably be a few unions and some students but nothing near those numbers and the US is at least ten times bigger then france! does anyone have an idea why it is like that? why does no one in the US give a damn? (except for the spanish people, i was very happy to here that the students were even walking out and protesting!)

 

basically the law does this. It gives companies the right to fire someone within the first 2 years for no reason.

Right now 25% of french youth are unemployed. Companies are basically scared of hiring a young person because it is very hard to get fired from a job in france short of murdering someone. So this law would allow companies to hire young people and keep those who are hard workers.

The french youth want job security, even though they have no jobs. The law basically says that individuals have the right to absolute job security and companies cannot fire anyone for virtually anything.


this is the wrong thing to be passionate about....

 

thanks for explaining that. yeah that whole thing does seem a little strange. aren't there people living in france around this forum? they should come in and comment. it would be good to hear and opinon of the laws and the way things work from someone who lives there.

 

In a lot of cases I think it is an appalling way to get change. Its like a child who throws the toys out of the pram.

There are some genuine protests out there to be made but they are being lost in the melee of pointless barracking that goes on every weekend.

 

I suppose you would use this same mentality in the case of your US troops in Iraq abuse cases? Or are all 150,000 US troops guilty of torture?

 

incompetence was a good enough reason to fire people before the law that triggered the protests.the problem is that with the new law,employees have to work for around 2-6 months without being paid,as a test.there's nothing wrong with that,but the problem is the employers can fire people at the end of the 2 months on no basis whatsoever,and hire new people who'll work for 2 months for nothing,then fire them and hire others and so on.not to mention they can fire old employees for having brown eyes instead of blue or any other stupid reason.that's scamming,abuse,whatever,but it certainly is not fair.
with the old law ex employees could sue their former employers for being fired for no reason,get things settled in court and get enough money to survive untill they could get another job.
there are employers who keep an experienced and competent employee.but there are those who think they'll earn more if their employees are not being paid,or are paid with minimum wage,for being inexperienced,and then when they get enough experience for a raise,they fire them.

 

Hello! I'm French and I find this Topic speaking about the "Contrat Première Embauche" of
Mr. De Villepin (our price minister). I will try to explain you the French point of view.
(sorry for my english...).

Megara you say that :"It gives companies the right to fire someone within the first 2 years for no reason."

You are forgetting one very important point : The CPE only concern the people between 18 and 26 years old. So the main French Students think that the law make a segregation between the generation. In france you get you majority at 18 and i don't see why the people should different rights because of their age...

Then some of you are thinking that this impossible to fire someone in france, it's not true : incompetence is a valuable reason, an economical reason is good too...But a companies can't fire you because they don't like your face, because you're black or jewish or just because you are not making your job the most important thing of your existence...In a certain way the CPE allows that...
I understand that some little companies need a flexible contract, and you know what ?
this contract already exist. So once again CPE isn't necessary...

Changing the laws of work isn't a good way to reduce unemployment, I would privilege other ways..Like the formation of the ungraduated people which is a real problem in france. I truly think that their are other ways to modernise our society. Take a look at the north of Europe....

the other reason of the students anger are the WAY the price minister has forced the passsage of the law...by using the 49:3. We hadn't our traditionnal national discussion before the vote of an important law.

On the riot : the whole majority are NOT rioting...The ones rioting are people who, in fact, really don't care of the social situation in france...
Sorry maybe i'm not very clear but it's difficult to talk about politic in foreign languages...

If got any question, i'm here...(and other comment than : "Fuck the French, on general principle", that's racism...)

 

Frenchie it's great to hear from someone actually in France who know's what's going on.

It sounds like you're saying this is not a good law, that it is a law giving more power to those who already have more power and disadvantaging working people, especially youth.

Also it sounds like you're saying even many people who are not demonstrating are still opposed the law and that's very interesting.

I really credit people in France for standing up for the rights of the common person.

 

I think the reason the unemployment problem exists is because of all the protesting.

When there are so many protests it affects more than just the local people of France, it affects companies who are prepared to locate there from setting up.

Imagine I'm a nice sized business from the US and I want a base in Europe. I have a really nice choice of countries and I look at France....

lovely scenery and all that but what about all those protests. Next door is Germany and then there is luxembourg, holland, belgium, britain... I wonder where I might set up instead?

I go back to previous statements made. If you want to protest then use the systems in place. If the systems are wrong get the systems changed. You don't need to walk in the street with placards to get things done.

 

Like I said before, easier to fire = easier to hire. If you make it harder to fire someone, you make it harder to hire them. Hence, higher unemployment in countries with restrictive labor laws.

Yes but that is the group with the highest unemployment. People in this age group have the least experience and few skills. They are more risky to hire, because they have no track record. Forcing employers to give people like this long term secure positions just makes employers less willing to hire.

 

Yeah, this is the same rationale that the Republicans used a few years back when they wanted to REDUCE the minimum wage for that age group-as if anyone could live on the minimum wage to begin with.

 

then again,easy to hire=easy to fire.what's better,being assured that you can find a temporary job with minimum wage,or being assured that once you found a job you're competent at you won't get fired and in time you'll have a better wage,thus afford more and more commodities/necessities?

 

Misleading not to say bullshit. Employees are always going to need training. Somebody has to shoulder the cost. And you're always going to have people who want to work hard and those who don't want to work hard. Either society has a moral obligation to take care of those less willing or able or it does not. If it doesn't basically you're talking active or passive extermination. Clone your slaves and dispose of the rest. If it does have such an obligation then support of those less productive has to come from somewhere. If one favors socialism funding is by government mechanisms. If one wants to minimize government then employers have to shoulder the cost more directly.

 

Well, its true that a higher minimum wage will tend to increase unemployment. If you're happy with that trade-off, then support a higher minimum wage (and the higher unemployment that goes with it).

That makes no sense. Easy to hire has nothing to do with easy to fire.

Once you've found a job - and by the looks of it (unemployment rates among French youth and students) that prospect is pretty grim. There is a price to pay for government mandated employment security, and that price is higher unemployment.

 

Yes we want too keep it high !!We (§u) have too if we want a decent live !!Franch man

 

From France:Hi SDS /JT.This law is fundamentally a worth law maden by one person (our prime minister )with conspiration of our president ,against the rest of the nation .Cl