French parliament approves Macron's labour reform drive

The French parliament has adopted a bill allowing the government to fast-track changes to the labor code, President Emmanuel Macron's first major reform since he took office two months ago.

With 225 in favor 109 against, the upper house Senate adopted the final version of the text.

It gives employers more power to negotiate workers' conditions at company level, rather than being bound by industry-wide agreements.

Emplpyees can be dismissed more easily, without companies fearing prosecution at labor tribunals.

With nearly 3.5 million people out of work, former investment banker Macron claims that the bill will give employers more incentives to hire workers if they can fire them without financial risk.

But labor unions argue that it will further weaken labor rights and increase unemployment. 

The bill also seeks to cap the compensation awarded by courts in dismissal cases.

The legislation easily passed the National Assembly, or lower house, where Macron's Republic on the Move, REM, party has a large majority.

The stiffest resistance came from the leftist France Unbowed, which accused the ruling party's novice lawmakers of being presidential "stooges" for waving through a bill they said would unravel decades of social gains.

Union leaders are already calling for demonstrations, with the General Confederation of Labor and Unitary Democratic Solidarity demanding countrywide strikes and protests on September 12.

While France Unbowed is organizing "a popular gathering" on September 23. 

Employers, by contrast, have welcomed the imminent changes, which will be implemented by means of executive orders in a month's time.

"France must become as attractive as its neighbors," the head of the Medef employers' federation, Pierre Gattaz, said last week, calling the overhaul "absolutely essential for the country."

Macron lost a record 10 percentage points in the opinion polls in July — with a 43 percent rate of disapproval according to an Ifop survey for the Journal du Dimanche — the biggest drop since President Jacques Chirac, who lost 15 percentage points in the two first months of his term. 

Earlier in July, Macron also announced measures to eliminate taxes for the wealthiest sectors in society.

Meanwhile, government student housing grants will decrease and the Ministry for Gender Equality will receive almost one third less of its annual budget — a loss of US$7.5 million.

Source: AFP