French unions face decisive test in fight against labour reform

French unions predicted an "enormous" turnout on a demonstration in Paris on Tuesday. The protest promised to be a decisive test of their ability to mobilise against the Socialist government's labour reform.

Pickets at a refuse disposal centre near Paris Reuters/Charles Platiau

Organisers said that 600 coaches were ferrying workers and activists to Paris on the eighth day of protest, which coincides with a debate on the bill, which bypassed the  French parliament's lower house, in the upper house, the Senate.

About 50 demonstrations were taking place in other towns and cities but all eyes were on Paris, where the police said they expected 50,000 or so to march, the unions far more.

The leader of the militant CGT trade union, Philppe Martinez, predicted the demonstration would be an enormous, reversing a downward trend in turnout over the last couple of days of action.

So the unions need to deliver to maintain credibility, although they have two more days of action planned on 23 and 28 June.

Some 130 people were banned from attending the Paris protest because, according to police, they have either been convicted of violent behaviour during previous ones or were awaiting sentence.

Violence broke out on the Paris demonstration - here journalists look at debris Rosslyh Hyams/RFI

Strike has limited effect

A one-day general strike call had limited effects on transport and other services but unions have shifted their attention to all-out strikes in strategic industries, which also have their own demands, such as refuse collection, oil refining and the railways.

Pickets at incinerators have mean rubbish piling up on the streets of Paris and other cities, although Paris city council this weekend started clearing the trash with the help of private contractors.

On the 14th day of a strike on the national rail network the number of strikers rose to 7.3 percent, according to management, up from 4.6 percent on Monday.

Paris's Eiffel Tower was closed Tuesday and Marseille's port was hit by a strike, while road traffic was disrupted in some areas.

Tuesday was also the last day of an unrelated strike by Air France pilots, who were to decide on further action in the coming days.

Minister to meet union leader

Although there have been some signs of potential compromise with a meeting between Martinez and Labour Minister Myriam El Khomri set for Friday, Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared "I fear nothing" and insisted that the most controversial measure, article two, would not be dropped.

That clause allows company agreements to override industry-wide ones on the length of the working week, a further erosion of the 35-hour week, according to the unions, and a dangerous precedent in weakening national-level bargaining.

The government insists that the bill will help bring down France's 10 percent unemployment by making it easier for employers to hire and fire, unions and left-wingers claim it is another pro-business measure from a government they say has continuously shifted to the right.

Right wing on offensive in Senate

The Communist Party has tabled 402 amendments in the Senate, two of them rejecting the whole bill.

But the government's main challenge in the upper house is from the right, which has a majority there and consider the present draft law to be insufficiently pro-business.

The mainstream right Republicans are proposing to restore measures dropped by the government to win the support of two trade unions, the CFDT and the CFTC, notably a cap on compensation for unfair dismissal.

The Senate debate will end on 24 June and the vote will take place four days later.

Confusion in the National Front

There has been some confusion in the ranks of the far-right National Front, however.

Its senators have withdrawn their amendments, similar to ones tabled by its supporters in the lower house, including proposals not to tax overtime pay and reducing the time allowed for union business.

MPs Marion Maréchal-Le Pen and Gilbert Collard hoped to win support from small business owners with the proposals but supporters of party leader Marine Le Pen feared that they would undermine the party's bid to cement support among working-class voters.

Le Pen has dubbed the bill a "return to the 19th century"and the party has called for it to be scrapped completely.

Bosses' leaders attack unions' 'impunity'

The bosses' union Medef judges the bill insufficiently pro-business, although unions claim the Medef inspired many of its proposals.

The organisation's chief Pierre Gattaz called a press conference Tuesday to denounce the "CGT's methods" and a "feeling of impunity" by union representatives, who have legal protection against dismissal.

He showed reporters a slideshow of paint-splattered facades of Medef premises, pickets of companies owned by its leading members and his own effigy being burnt.

The Medef has also opposed any rise in social security contributions for unemployment insurance.