On March 7, up to a million people in France demonstrated in
opposition to the French government’s plan to pass a new law that was
then in the French Senate.

The law has come to be known as CPE, the
“Contrat Premiere Embauche”; in English, the “First Employment
Contract.” Despite the protest, the government passed the bill the next
day so that it is now a law. The law was passed in a way that
sidestepped the debate and discussion that is a traditional part of the
legislative process in France.

This law applies to those under 26 years of age who find a new
job. It gives the employer the right to terminate the new hire’s
employment within two years without having to give any reason. Under
French law, the employer has only a month to terminate the employment
of a new employee who is 26 or older without having to provide a
reason. After that, French labor law provides protection for the
employee so that employment isn’t ended without objective cause.

The unemployment rate in France is an estimated 10 percent of
the French population. This includes an estimated 20 percent of young
people who do not have jobs. There have been various proposals offered
for how to lower this high rate of unemployment. One such proposal is
to make it possible for those in the current workforce to retire
earlier than presently possible in order to open jobs for those who are
currently unemployed.

The new law, however, takes a very different approach to the
high rate of youth unemployment. It is based on an initiative
introduced by the French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. It
provides that those under 26 who work for companies with more than 20
employees can be dismissed from their employment in the first two years
without any reason given for their termination. Students and others who
oppose the law say that this treats them in a discriminatory way. Not
only is it normally difficult to get a job, but under this new law, an
employer will have an incentive to end their employment before the two
years are up and hire another employee who is under 26. For those
seeking jobs who are 26 or over, this new law provides an incentive for
employers to give preference to younger workers who can be hired and
then fired as a new form of temporary employment.

Last August a similar law was put into effect by Executive
Mandate that applied only to employers with less than 20 paid
employees. Under this law, known as the CNE, (in French “Contrat
Nouvelle Embauche”) a small employer can hire and dismiss people before
they have worked for the employer for two years without having to
provide a reason for the dismissal. There are many instances of workers
protesting they lost their jobs unfairly under this law. The very
competitive pressures that leads employers to desire such flexibility
to hire and fire at will, also is a pressure on the employer to
terminate a new worker before the two years are up and to hire someone
else who is not covered by the labor laws. The new labor law, the CPE,
is modeled on the CNE, but applies to larger employers.

The French Senate passed the CPE in a hurried way and at night,
on March 8 and 9, cutting short debate using a special procedure known
as Article 49.3 of the French Constitution. Students, student
organizations, and other young people across France were dismayed by
the prospects of having to work under the conditions provided by the
new law. French labor unions also oppose the new law, along with the
Socialist Party and other parties, including the Greens.

On top of this, the CPE means that for those under 26 it will
probably make it for them almost impossible for them to find an
appartment. In urban centres like Paris landlords will only rent to
anyone with the standard contract, because it almost guarantees them
the rent. They are most unlikely to rent out to anyone with a contract
like the CPE which is so insecure.

By Ronda Hauben
Ohmynews.com