Catherwood LibraryILR School

Following months of violent clashes between trade unions, workers, and Socialist Party members with the French government, Prime Minister Manuel Valls used Article 49 Part 3 of the French Constitution to push hotly contested labor law reform through parliament without a vote. The adoption of these reforms marks the third time Valls has bypassed parliament to enact legislation and comes in light of the recent terrorist attacks in Nice which have, for obvious reasons, substantially overshadowed conflicts over the labor bill. While President Francois Hollande has made the reduction of France’s skyrocketing unemployment a tenet of his government, many members of his own party and French workers and union members feel that the loosening of labor regulations will drastically damage workers’ rights and will not, in effect, create jobs. Regardless, the reforms have become law and while major French unions are refraining from taking action due to the recent national tragedy, they have vowed to take up their cause again in the fall.