News / France

French president vows to go ahead with controversial labor reforms

Thursday, 23 June 2016 1:37 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 23 June 2016 1:46 PM ]

French President Francois Hollande (AFP photo)

France's embattled President Francois Hollande stays defiant in the face of ongoing anti-reform protests, vowing to go ahead with the controversial plans despite unions’ pressures to ditch the law.

Hollande pledged on Thursday that the French Socialist government would "go all the way" to enact controversial labor reforms.

"On this draft law, we will go all the way because it is essential not only to allow businesses to be able to hire more" but to step up training that will lead to more jobs.

"We will take this bill through to the finish line," Hollande told reporters.

The remarks come as demonstrators are expected to hold a union-led protest in the capital, Paris, on Thursday.

More than 2,000 police deployed around the capital's Place de la Bastille square to control the march.

The government earlier cited security concerns in denying permission for the Thursday demonstration, organized by seven unions and student groups.

However, Philippe Martinez, the head of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) union, which is leading the rallies in the European country, said on Wednesday that the government had given the go-ahead for the Thursday rally.

The two sides finally agreed on a shorter 1.6 kilometer (one-mile) alternative route proposed by the Interior Ministry near the center of Paris.

French police officers push protesters during a demonstration against proposed labor law reforms on the Place de la Bourse in Bordeaux on June 23, 2016. (AFP photo)

France is embroiled in a months-long stand-off over the controversial labor reforms, with neither the workers’ unions nor the government showing any sign of caving in or losing face.

Over the past few months, France has been witnessing violent demonstrations and industrial actions over the Socialist government’s changes to the labor law.

Previous protests involved hundreds of mostly masked youths clashing with police, hurling paving stones, and plastering anti-capitalist slogans on buildings. Police have fired dozens of rounds of tear gas and used water cannons to disperse the crowd, claiming some CGT members were in involved in the violence.

Dozens of protesters have been arrested and scores injured during the scuffles.

The government says the labor reforms are aimed at boosting the country’s economy and curbing the two-digit unemployment rate.

Unions, however, say the government wants to make it easier and less costly for employers to lay off workers, calling the reforms an attack on workers’ rights.

The draft labor bill was recently forced through the lower house of parliament, but it must be debated in the Senate for final approval.

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