Is the first job contract the real cause for the 2006 French riots?

Résumé du document

On August the 5th 1981, President Reagan fired 11,359 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order to return to work. It might seem utterly mad to a French audience because since May the 25th 1864, the Loi Ollivier has authorized the "right to be on strike". Indeed, the French legal system over protects employees from dismissal or firing. For instance, in 2005 the former La Samaritaine employees received roughly 5 years salary in compensation for an illegal dismissal. It emphasizes that each country has its own point of view concerning job demonstrations because of its own unique history. This was the case in the First Job Contract and the March 2006 riots that caused a lot of ink to flow in the French and international press. This profusion of articles gives us a broad range of view points about this situation. Through a selection of articles aiming at giving information to American, British and French audiences, we could figure out that both natives and foreigners can be critical of the French predicament.

Extraits

[...] This is a contradictory state of mind which proves that they tend to react instead of thinking twice about the situation. It is known that the French people are inclined to protest and go on strike. However, the American press emphasizes that they tend to have a very relaxed state of mind. Some of them have taken advantage of the FJC as an excuse to benefit from vacation days. next Tuesday, a national strike, perfectly timed to create a four-day week-end”[7]. [...]

[...] Even if the university in which I studied was not affected much by the demonstrations, I realized that the media's reality has to be taken cautiously The First Job Contract: an excuse for abuses When De Villepin's government proposed the New Job Contract (same working conditions than the First Job Contract), the French population had no reaction. So, why tackle the First Job Contract? If we go back to November 2005, young people of the suburbs went out on the streets in order to fight with the police. An unsatisfactory feeling is directly synonymous with violence. Of course, the First Job Contract was not very clear in its drafting: few French people understood its deeper meaning. The dissatisfaction with a discriminatory law which created insecure jobs had been quickly spread. [...]

[...] This lack of flexibility and adaptation has just come in for criticism and stirred up strikes . The First Job Contract or “collective failure of the French system” according to Louis Chauvel[10] was examined critically because a huge reform of employment was expected by the French population. Contrary to their expectations, the First Job Contract turned out to be unclear so, it follows a lack of understanding and a need for letting the government know that they were not satisfied. [...]

[...] Is the First Job Contract the real cause for the 2006 French riots? Introduction On August 5th President Reagan fired 11,359 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order to return to work. It might seem utterly mad to a French audience because since May 25th the Loi Ollivier has authorised the "right to be on strike". Indeed, the French legal system over protects employees from dismissal or hiring. For instance, in 2005 the former La Samaritaine[1] employees received roughly 5 years salary in compensation for an illegal dismissal. [...]

[...] FJC: First Job Contract. NJC: New Job Contract. CNN: Cable News Network, commonly known as CNN, is a major cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Appendix Le CPE débarque aux Etats-Unis Très critiquée en France, l'idée du CPE commence à séduire aux Etats- Unis. Plusieurs parlementaires envisagent de l'introduire dans la législation américaine. "Nous avons aux Etats-Unis un grand nombre d'emplois dans les services et le commerce, le CPE permettrait de stabiliser cette main d'oeuvre", estime Dennis Kucinich, représentant démocrate de l'Ohio. [...]