France Could Be Immobilized by Massive Protests Over Labor Law Reforms

At 28, Godefroy Guibert has only just begun his working life, teaching high school economics to teenagers barely a decade younger than himself. Yet despite having a long career ahead of him, the tall, bearded Parisian knows exactly what he will be doing and how much he will be earning 20 years from now — not to mention when he retires sometime in the 2050s, with a generous state pension. “I have a job for life,” he says proudly, standing one blustery afternoon in a crowd of protesters, faced by a phalanx of riot police, outside the offices of the French business federation Medef. “When you have a job for the state, like a teacher, you cannot be fired.”

That is precisely the problem, according to French government officials and companies. Since March, proposed labor reforms aimed at loosening the vast labyrinth of labor regulations — contained in France’s 3,689-page “Work Code” — have sparked the most explosive political battle in more than 10 years, with mammoth street protests, strikes and violent clashes with police. After weeks of protests and sit-ins, the government finally rammed the bill through parliament without no vote on May 10, over the objections of millions of regular French — who have long enjoyed watertight labor protections — and to the fury of many lawmakers within the ruling Socialist Party.

That has tipped the argument into a full-blown labor crisis that now threatens to wreak havoc on the world’s sixth biggest economy.

Since Monday, union activists have blockaded some French oil refineries, burning barricades and battling police, and leaving about one-third of French gas stations without fuel. Union leaders have called a national strike in multiple industries for Thursday, including at nuclear power plants, which provide most of France’s electricity. “Towards total paralysis?” asked Le Parisien newspaper on its Wednesday’s cover, showing long gas lines.

The answer, for now, could be yes. That’s because neither side shows signs of backing down. Pitted against each other is a government desperate for a better economy; and millions of French workers and young people, who graduate from high school or college this month, and who have always taken for granted their right to lavish benefits and iron-clad job protection.

Similar labor laws have been loosened during recent years in other big European economies, including Spain and Italy, jump-starting their economies after deep recession. But in France, victory has become, for each side, a do-or-die test of survival.

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