The French government has used its executive powers to push through its labour code reform bill, which was adopted on Thursday 12 May. The text now goes before the Senate. The main issues at hand are the primacy of company agreements over sector agreements when it comes to working hours, as well as the setting of objective criteria for justifying redundancies on economic grounds. In the run up union members had assembled in their thousands calling for the text to be withdrawn and fresh demonstrations are expected for 17 and 19 May.
The French government’s labour reform bill was adopted by the National Assembly on Thursday 12 May. The decision by the Prime Minister to resort to article 49.3 at the start of the week (which allows the government to exercise its executive powers over the bill) brought a halt to discussions of the bill at the Assembly, along with the 5000 tabled amendments. This bill, which has evolved greatly since its first version was presented at the end of March, is very close to that which resulted from the debates within the Social Affairs Committee, and is that which the government plans to adopt even if that means resorting to article 49.3 once again at the end of the parliamentary process.
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