"French President Jacques Chirac has announced that the new youth employment law that sparked weeks of sometimes violent protests will be scrapped," reported the BBC Monday. The First-Employment Act, or CPE, was passed to help alleviate youth unemployment (currently at 23%) by making it easier for employers to fire subpar workers--thus making it more attractive to hire them in the first place than it is now, as youth who are hired currently fall under the union-like state laws which make it almost impossible to fire employees regardless of job performance.
Chirac said that the CPE would be replaced by other measures to tackle youth unemployment. This ann0uncement comes on the heels of riots and protests carried out by millions of students and union members, who took to the streets over the last month in protest against the law, often by burning cars and attacking police.
Union and student leaders called Chirac's cave-in a "great victory." However, they refused to specify whether or not the protests still set for Tuesday would be cancelled.
No comments:
Post a Comment