Strike Three! Everyone's out

This winter I had a conversation with Benoit about the French electoral system. He told me that elections are infrequent (every three years) and that decisions made between them are trusted to the President, the Senate and National Assembly, and regional/local councils. Referendums on local taxes, constitutional amendments, official recalls, etc. are unheard of. Last May's referendum on the EU constitution was an exception to the rule of letting elected officials do their jobs and pay the price for unpopular decisions in the next election cycle.

The localization of democracy in France occurs in the form of frequent strikes and demonstrations. Right now we're experiencing a week long student strike against the CPE - Contrat de la Premiere Embauche.

(The first time the CPE was explained to me by a student I thought he was against the first "ambush". Hard to argue with that. The first ambush has got to be the hardest.)

The CPE is a recent piece of legislation designed to make it easier for companies to hire young people - specifically those without work experience. The rate of youth unemployment is twice the national rate, and is frequently blamed for last fall's riots across France and generally centered in the low income suburbs.

The CPE gives businesses with new hires discounts on their taxes. It also gives them the right to fire a new employee without reason at any time. Prior to the CPE a student getting his/her first job was contracted to a two year training period. During this training period dismissing an employee was difficult and required a ton of documentation.

As Vincent explained, several companies are expected to abuse the pink slipping half of the law, then turn around and hire new employees so they can extend the tax advantages of the same law.

According to a teacher at my school, the CPE is unpopular because it was railroaded though parliament without any debate. It took the nation by surprise when it was announced. This was the complaint of a one day strike in February. Prior to that, a one and half day strike by some trade unions were protesting the lack of job security provided by the CPE. Two of the five teachers unions at my lycee participated in that strike.

This week all of France's universities have been closed by the student strike (conveniently timed to coincide with next week's spring break). With university students staying home from school, so have half of my lycee students.

"I had no one show up today," another teacher said of her 9am English class. "No one?" I asked. "Zero," she answered. "Huh," I grabbed a coffee from the vending machine and headed to my classroom. Five students followed me in. "C'est juste nous," Maxime said. "And the others?" I asked. "Ils font le greve," they said. "And you? Why aren't you on strike?" I asked. Everyone grimaced and shrugged, in that oh so French way. Too indifferent to have an opinion, we had an excellent small group discussion on the New York City subway system. Which I believe was on strike recently.