French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Thursday survived a no-confidence vote prompted by a divisive labor reform, as tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in the nation’s major cities to protest against the law.
Facing almost daily protests and legislative gridlock, the government decided to use a special measure to push the bill through without a vote in the lower house of parliament.
The conservatives tried to object by setting up a no-confidence vote, but with 246 votes they failed to gather the minimum of 288 needed to bring down the government.
The contested labor reform — including longer workdays, easier layoffs and weaker unions — will now be debated in the Senate. A date has not been set, but it is expected to be discussed in the coming weeks.
In his speech to lawmakers, Valls said he is proud of the law because it would help social progress and it is an “indispensable reform” in a globalized world.
A rain-drenched march through Paris on Thursday was largely peaceful, but police fired tear gas at some rowdy demonstrators and arrested seven people.
Similar scenes played out in Marseille on the Mediterranean, and Nantes on the Atlantic Coast.
The Ministry of the Interior said a total of 55,000 protesters took to the streets across France.
New street protests and strikes called by workers’ unions to reject the reform are already scheduled next week.
The labor reform is the boldest any French government, left or right, has tried in years and has unleashed daily, often-violent protests from wine country to the troubled suburbs.
It has torn apart the Socialists and further damaged their weak chances of keeping the presidency and legislative control in next year’s elections.
Protesters are also angry about the government’s decision to pass the law without a vote, using an article of the French Constitution instead.
“The government must listen. Democracy must prevail, within our movement and at the National Assembly,” General Confederation of Labour union secretary-general Philippe Martinez said.
Using the constitution to pass the law “has only fueled the anger of workers, students and citizens,” he said. “By ignoring us, the government will end up hitting a snag.”
The bill is relatively modest, especially after the government softened it to meet union demands.
It would not abolish the 35-hour workweek, but would allow companies to negotiate deals for up to 48 hours a week or 12-hour shifts. It would change rules for layoffs in companies, to create more flexibility during downturns — under conditions depending on the size of the businesses.
It even adds some new protections — a “right to disconnect” from e-mails and smartphones negotiated with employers — and a new 461 euro (US$523) allowance for young jobseekers.
The head of the opposition conservatives in the lower house said the law does not go far enough to open up the country’s economy.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
A surprising gut feeling may help pigeons find their way home. Animals use various techniques to navigate, including following the stars and remembering key landmarks. Birds, fish and turtles orient themselves using Earth’s magnetic field as a compass, but it is not yet clear how exactly they do this. Pigeons are a well-known group of frequent flyers that can traverse hundreds of kilometers in a single day. For thousands of years, humans have used them to carry news, notes and military messages. Scientists have long tried to untangle how pigeons travel without getting lost. Some think the birds detect magnetic cues using light-sensitive
RSS