Nationwide strikes return to France

I had been almost completely removed from news for the past two weeks while in the US for a family issue though I did have questions from just about everyone regarding the strikes in France. The day before my wife joined me in the US she had been riding the Metro home from work and had to cover up as she passed through Odeon station because police tear gas made its way underground. In what appears to be all too common here, the police have not shown much restraint in reacting to student protests. Police over-reaction led the problems in the suburbs just a few months ago and I have limited expectations on their desire to react calmly this time.

This new round of nationwide strikes is complicated and in a land that loves to argue ideas, I suspect this is not going to be solved any time soon. The government rammed through a law just before summer holidays last year that allows small companies to hire and fire without notice, much like the under-26 law, but few noticed because of the timing not to mention the inability of small company workers to organize.

My own feeling is that change is necessary and inevitable but the government has backed down from an equal distribution of the pain by focusing on select groups. The students are not facing reality if they think that the existing system can continue where it's impossible to fire a bad worker but they have a legitimate point that it is not fair to pick on them, especially considering how high unemployment already is for the youth in France. It's all stick and no carrot and shows once again how un-creative the regime is. If the government is going to
stick the youth with such a policy they ought to somehow lessen the blow and give the youth tax advantages of something else. If they get the worst of everything, why not something to benefit them?

Since I live just steps away from one of the major protest march boulevards I should be hearing the protests soon enough. After a tough few weeks in the US I am glad to be back but I'm not exactly thrilled at what is coming here, with both sides itching for such a fight.