Union calls for general strike against work reform
The CGT is opposed to a proposed work law which it says is ‘worse’ than last year’s controversial ‘El Khomri’ one
One of the largest French unions, the CGT, is calling for a general strike on Tuesday, September 12, in protest against a new work reform law.
The union is calling for its members to walk out and to organise protest action across all of the sectors it covers, which range from teachers to train drivers, nurses and bank workers.
The law, which is being presented today to the Conseil des Ministres (cabinet) – the first key stage of a new bill – is claimed by the union to be ‘worse’ than the previous El Khomri work law, which the union also opposed for several months last year.
One of the sticking points is that it calls for use of the ‘CDI de projet’ to be extended to more work sectors.
This is a ‘half-way house’ between a permanent CDI contract and interim work – essentially a ‘permanent’ contract, with the rights and protections associated with that, that is nonetheless mainly linked to a specific project.
At present it is used in the building trade: at the end of a particular construction project the employer should try to find another job for the person, but if they cannot the contract ends.
The IT sector is said to be especially interested in this.
The CGT also says it contains provisions to allow employers to sack staff if they refuse to adapt their contracts to new workplace agreements, even if the agreements had failed to obtain strong backing from workplace unions.
The union is also warning that it does not want to hear excuses that the law has been ‘worked out in collaboration’ with themselves, just because a consultation exercise has been started by the Work Ministry.
