New French labour law attacks workers’ rights

[Joanne98]

On May 1, the day traditionally dedicated to workers struggles, a new labour law (Code du Travail) came into force that fundamentally attacks the rights of French workers.

Officially, the new law is merely a “reworking” of previous labour law—i.e., a summary and simplification of numerous individual laws involving no real change of content. In reality, the government of President Nicolas Sarkozy has used this “reworking” to fundamentally change the relationship between employers and workers.

French labour laws and rules regulate the relations between employers and employees and determine all important aspects of work. The labour code goes back to the nineteenth century and was developed in its current form in the 1920s. It contains many regulations resulting from the struggle carried out by workers over the course of decades. It applies to 16 million private sector employees, as well as several million workers employed in the public sector who are paid by private companies. Different work laws and regulations apply to the public sector.

Several parliamentary deputies have pointed out that the new labour law completely redefines the relationship between workers and employers. The previous code was based on a status of dependence, which protected the weaker party against exploitation and obliged employers to take responsibility for the welfare of their workforce. Now, some deputies have warned, this obligation on the part of the employer has been undermined in the new code.

Alain Vidalies, an economic expert for the French Socialist Party (PS), said that the aim of the new code was “to adapt the structure and philosophy of the Code du Travail to the policy of the UMP . Although it is not allowed to interfere with the existing law, it has allowed important conditions to be undermined and questions the unity of the labour law, while degrading and weakening social guaranties.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/may2008/fran-m02.shtml