France: Let's widen the mobilizations against the "First Job Contract"!

Statement by Alternative Libertaire

Yesterday, 400,000 people demonstrated against the "First Job Contract" [Contrat Première Embauche - CPE]. In order to defeat this plan, which will represent a social setback, Alternative Libertaire is calling for the mobilization to be extended.

---

Let's widen the mobilizations against the "First Job Contract"!

Yesterday, 400,000 people demonstrated against the "First Job Contract" [Contrat Première Embauche - CPE]. In order to defeat this plan, which will represent a social setback, Alternative Libertaire is calling for the mobilization to be extended.

The CPE is supposed to be an open-ended contract (ie. with no expiry date), reserved for employees under the age of 26, with a trial period of two years. During this period the employer is allowed to fire an employee without justification or, during the first months, without notice and without the 10% "precarity" bonus. In short, it means more exonerations from overheads for bosses over three years.

This contract is yet another measure of precarity for young people who are already victims of unemployment and poverty. But while it puts pressure on young employees, it also puts pressure on all employees by setting different age groups in competition with each other. It is one of the most regressive measures taken by the government, who understand this only too well and who have decided to accelerate the voting process on it, and may possibly even bring the law into force using Article 49.3.

We call on all workers, high school and university students, and unemployed people to continue the pressure, the first manifestation of which was seen yesterday, but to widen the scope of the mobilization and take control of it themselves.

This mobilization must also become an opportunity to build some alternative proposals to fight precarity. Promoting increased consumption, limiting precarious employment, youth employment and so on are not solutions. The re-distribution of working hours and of wealth is one.

The CPE increases precarity - let's increase the struggle!

Alternative Libertaire,
8th February 2006

Translation by FdCA International Relations