Libcom: The anti-CPE struggle continues in France

April 11th 2006 Posted to France CPE

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The withdrawal of the CPE was announced today. This is a victory for the protesters, however the government still has the ability to strongarm similar legislation through and has not withdrawn the other parts of the “loi sur l’egalite des chances“ of which the CPE was only a part. The alliance of unions that opposed the CPE has called for a continuation of the struggle as have many of the protesting groups. The CPE was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but the reaction may well see all similar legislation withdrawn.

At an AG attended by roughly 3000 students Nantes University has voted to continue the blockade until 19th April. A demonstration was called for tonight and a further demonstration and probable blockade of the station was also called for.

Students at the Saint Charles College of Marseille University voted on Monday to continue the strike and the blockade, they have also called for a demonstration on tuesday morning in the old port area.

Students at the University in Aix-en-Provence voted to continue the blockade and have called an action tomorrow morning, in solidarity with workers.

T. R. President of the Independent, Democratic Federation of Schoolchildren, himself a pupil in Vitrolles (Bouches-du-Rhoe) has also called for students to continue their protests and maintain the struggle.

At Lille I university the blockade will continue until the end of the week, after an AG today.

At the IUT B in Tourcoing a continuation of the blockade has been agreed until tomorrow morning.

Paris VIII university has been closed by its President, not in solidarity but to deny the students a place to hold meetings. This decision was taken without consulting university staff. Students have called for the reopening of the university, to provide a space for AGs to be held, and for the resignation of the president Pierre Lunel, he was apparently last seen in Taiwan, obviously events closer to home are not as important to M. Lunel.

Rouen University has almost unanimously, at an AG attended by over 1200 students, to continue the blockade. Describing the withdrawal as a “step back“ by the government, but not as “satisfactory“. A demonstration for tuesday morning was agreed on, as was the blockading of the major roads in the town.

Montpellier: Montpellier III has voted at an AG to continue the blockade. The president has attempted to gain control of the process by calling for a vote by secret ballot on the 13th April, the students have responded that they vote in this manner already. There are rumours that Montpellier II has lifted its blockade, these are unconfirmed.

A demonstration was called this evening at 8pm in front of the Bastille by Parisian students, calling for the resignations of Chirac, Sarkozy and Villepin.

Toulouse: Students at Toulouse Mirail university have reacted “sceptically“ to the withdrawal of the CPE and have voted to continue both the blockade and the Strike until next thursday. Teaching staff have supported this move and have voted to continue their own strike action until tuesday. They have called for students from the Toulouse to join a mass demonstration. A programme of action for this week has been published.

http://toulouse.indymedia.org/article.php3?id_article=4929

students at Toulouse Rangeuil: AG are held every day and have so far voted for the maintenance of blockades, by large majorities. a programme of action has ben published for this week.

http://toulouse.indymedia.org/article.php3?id_article=4936

Paul Sabatier university voted to continue the strike and the blockade, and students have voted to extend the struggle to economic targets like Airbus. Students have also recognise the support of the teaching staff who have alsom voted to strike.

Toulouse: 1000 Students at St Sernin have voted to blockade the school on tuesday. The blockade had been lifted at the AG on Friday after two weeks. The students have called on other students to blockade their schools.

Could Australian workers follow the French lead?

Sue Bolton, Green Left Weekly

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For two months, students and workers across France have been striking and protesting against a new law allowing employers to sack young workers for no reason within their first two years of employment.

Around 3 million people poured onto the streets in 135 cities and towns on March 28. Then, on April 4, more than 3 million mobilised across the country.

The French government has offered compromises, rejected by the students and trade unions who are organising another day of action on April 11. They are demanding that the law be withdrawn or the campaign will be escalated.

Meanwhile, the mass civil disobedience is ongoing. Hundreds of schools and universities are being blockaded, closed or occupied, and there are blockades of motorways, railway stations and other public places.

Contrasting France and Australia

In France, the government has introduced a law affecting young workers. In Australia, a whole raft of anti-worker and anti-union laws have been introduced that affect every single worker.

In France, the student and union movements have responded with two months’ of mass mobilisations, causing a split in the French government over whether to compromise or tough-out the situation. In Australia, two nationwide actions have occurred in 16 months, with the next one not due until June 28.

In France, the union and student movements have set a deadline for the total withdrawal of the legislation, which has already been passed through parliament. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary Greg Combet appears to be accepting that a future Labor government would not even restore all that the Howard government has taken away.

Fortunately for Australia’s working people, a section of the union movement does want to take Howard on. This group of unions initiated the two national days of action last year, on June 30-July 1 and November 15. The same unions have now convinced the ACTU to call the June 28 protests, although some of the more conservative union leaderships are trying to scuttle plans for a national mobilisation on that day.

In France, the government is under serious pressure from the protests and strikes. In Australia, majority public opposition to the new IR laws, and the protests held so far, have made the government nervous, but a significant stepping up of action is needed before the Australian government feels the sort of pressure that the French government is responding to.

Can we repeat the French example?

Some people argue that the decline in the rate of unionisation of the Australian work force - now 23% - means that union struggle is impossible. But less than 10% of the work force in France is unionised. The difference is that the union leaderships in France joined the student protests and helped lead a united campaign for the repeal of the law.

The were two union demonstrations in Australia last year were massive. On June 30-July 1, 300, 000 protested, despite no support from some unions. The November 15 protest was around 546, 000 strong. People protested in regional cities and towns, as well as in the capital cities, including students, pensioners, and un-unionised and unemployed workers.

Poll after poll demonstrates that public opinion is running strongly against the government on this issue, and there is no evidence that workers in Australia are not prepared to take action to defend their fundamental rights. There is, however, plenty of evidence that the majority of the ACTU executive doesn’t want to organise workers to do so.

Some union leaders have opposed mass mobilisations because they really don’t believe that such action achieves anything, and because they think that governments are all-powerful. They argue that the only way to get rid of the laws is to vote in a Labor government in the next election.

Other union leaders oppose the mass mobilisations because they have their eye on a parliamentary career in the ALP. They know that if Labor is elected on the back of a big, militant workers’ movement, as it was in 1972, there will be massive pressure on it to abolish all anti-union legislation. As a pro-big business party, the ALP doesn’t want to do that.

However, a growing number of union leaders do recognise the value of mass struggle, not just waiting for the next election, and do recognise that working people want to resist.

Howard’s attacks on workers and their unions can be stopped, but doing so requires unionists and others committed to abolishing the laws urgently need to come together to build a campaign of mass mobilisations, localised actions and industrial action against Work Choices. The French example should be an inspiration.

Stop Press! April 4: an even bigger mobilisation of French workers and youth

Article from www.marxist.com

By our correspondent in Paris

Tuesday, 04 April 2006

April 4: an even bigger mobilisation of French workers and youth

A massive demonstration marched through the streets of Paris today, April 4, on the national day of action against the hated First Employment Contract introduced by the right-wing government of de Villepin. According to the CGT, more than 700, 000 people participated in the demonstration, making it bigger than the one on March 28.

The first figures arriving also show that the demonstrations were bigger in the provinces as well. Thus in Bordeaux 125, 000 marched, 90, 000 in Toulouse, 45, 000 in Lyon, 60, 000 in Nantes and in Grenoble, 50, 000 at Clermont-Ferrand, 35, 000 in Saint-Etienne, 30, 000 in Brest, 30, 000 in Roanne, 20, 000 in Tours, 20, 000 in Orléans, etc. The provisional total for the whole of France advanced by the CGT was already more than 3 million, surpassing the 3 million of last Tuesday. As for the level of strikes, the CGT recognised that the level of participation was slightly lower in the public sector, but that there had been more participation in the private sector. One has to take into account that this is the 5th such day of action called by the union leaders, who have not yet dared call a proper 24-hour general strike, and this introduces an element of tiredness. Also some of the more moderate unions, like CFDT, did not call for strike action in some of the sectors they had called out last Tuesday. There will be, inevitably, a war of statements regarding the figures between the organisers and the government, with the government trying to give the impression that the movement is weaker.

April 4: an even bigger mobilisation of French workers and youth. Whatever the figures, the demonstration in Paris was really impressive. At 1:30 pm, one full hour before it was supposed to start, Place de la Republique was already full, and thousands gathered in front of the official head of the demonstration on the route towards the Place d’Italie. First in the march where the university and school students, but there were so many of them that the march could not leave the Place de la Republique until at least 3:30 pm and the final contingents could only leave the square at about 6:30 pm, some four hours after the head had started to move. It was impressive to see the amount of youth, including many black and Arab students, taking the lead in the different contingents.

After the school and university students organised by individual university and high school, with each one protected by its own stewards, came the contingent of the Federation of Parents of School Students which has been supportive of the movement since the beginning and has criticised the crude attempts of Education Minister de Robien to use the police to open the blockaded high schools. The Teachers’ federation, the FSU, followed closely and in great numbers.

After that the different trade unions marched through. The largest and most impressive contingent by far was that of the CGT. Amongst them were the tube and train workers (with their characteristic red flares), the Citroen workers, workers of Air France, health workers, the metal workers’ federation, and many others.

The mood on the demonstration was extremely militant and very angry. However, at the same time there was a certain sense of anticipation. You could see how many felt that if this day of action were even bigger than the massive show of strength on March 28, then the government would be forced to withdraw the CPE. April 4: an even bigger mobilisation of French workers and youth

This feeling was also the result of the very open splits between Prime Minister de Villepin and Interior Minister Sarkozy. In fact, from the point of view of the ruling class it might be wiser to just withdraw the CPE and replace de Villepin with Sarkozy, in order to avoid the movement from becoming an all out general strike.

The appeal of the national coordination of students and school students which met in Lille at the weekend was quite clear on this point and also proposed a number of concrete measures to build for an all out general strike. At least two inter-union bodies (local and regional coordination bodies made up of the different unions and the student representatives) have called for a renewable general strike in Loire-Atlantique and Gironda.

At the same time that the movement is becoming more radicalised, and a wider layer of workers and students are drawing the conclusion that only a general strike can defeat the CPE, some of the trade union and student leaders are making statements favourable to negotiation. This is the case with the CFDT and the UNEF, which previously said that the withdrawal of the CPE was a precondition for any talks. They are now saying they are prepared to sit down with the right wing to talk about anything as long as it is not about modifications to the CPE.

The next few hours will be crucial. The French youth and workers have already spoken and have done so clearly: they want the withdrawal of the CPE and by implication the fall of the de Villepin government. The ruling class is afraid and will try anything in order to diffuse the movement, and if that means sacrificing de Villepin they will not hesitate. The movement of the workers and youth has reached such a level that it will be in fact very difficult to put an end to this mobilisation without a full withdrawal of the CPE.

Ray McHale