The mass actions of the Belgian and French workers not only have popular support of students and common people in their own countries, but in fact have the support of workers and justice-loving people in Germany, the Netherlands, UK and other countries of Western Europe and beyond.
From the last week of May 2016 onwards, tens of thousands of workers in Belgium have been participating in protests all across the country against labour “reforms” of their government. Likewise millions of workers in France have been on the streets to demand that their government withdraw anti-worker changes in labour laws. In both countries, more protests have been planned in the month of June 2016 and thereafter. The mass actions of the Belgian and French workers not only have popular support of students and common people in their own countries, but in fact have the support of workers and justice-loving people in Germany, the Netherlands, UK and other countries of Western Europe and beyond.
Belgium
Over 60,000 workers participated in a massive march through the streets of Brussels on 24th May 2016. The main demand of the Belgian workers is the withdrawal of “reforms” proposed by the government such as longer working hours and higher retirement age.
Code du travail (Labour Code)
The working class in France has a long and proud history of fighting not only for its’ own rights but for the rights of all human beings. As a result of the prolonged struggles in the early part of the twentieth century (1906 to 1910), the first draft of the “code du travail” (labour code) was published in 1910. This is a document that brings together the legal regulations governing the rights and duties of employers and employees. It is an important legal tool that offers workers special protection against their employers, and has been revised several times thereafter to incorporate more rights won through the united struggles of the workers.
Presently workers in Belgium are expected to work for a maximum of 38 hours per week and the government wants them to work for a maximum of 45 hours per week. The government also wants the retirement age to be increased to 67 years. Moreover, the government recently scrapped a proposed hike in the wages of public sector and transport workers, which the workers are opposing. Transport workers are demanding the reversal of reduction of their overtime pay. Another demand of all sections of workers is the removal of increased VAT (value added tax) on electricity, which was leading to increased spending of the working people on energy.
The actions on 24th May 2016 involved workers from a variety of sectors. The massive demonstration caused a temporary shutdown of certain train stations and traffic stoppages all across Brussels. Another day of protests was observed on 31st May 2016. Some workers, such as train drivers, were on strike throughout this period. Public transport in Brussels was also disrupted for the second time in a week, with metro trains running only every 15-20 minutes. The impact of the strike and protests was even more severe in some other cities of the country.
In addition to public sector workers and transport workers, judges too participated in “rolling strikes” during the first week in June 2016 to protest against cuts to legal budgets. Many students and other working people from other sectors of the economy too participated in these actions to show solidarity. The government and the big capitalists however sought to create divisions among the working people, claiming that the protests were only concentrated in the French-speaking southern regions of Belgium.
The workers of Belgium are planning to intensify their struggle in the coming weeks, like their class brothers in neighbouring France.
France
Workers in France have been protesting against “reforms” in labour laws currently since March 2016. Hundreds of thousands of French workers, youth and students have come out on the streets of France nine times since the middle of March to protest a “labour reform law,” which is so unpopular that the government had to push it through Parliament’s National Assembly without a vote!
In the present wave, hundreds of thousands of workers and students took to the streets of French cities on Thursday, May 26th 2016, braving heavy rain to protest against proposed labour changes. Hundreds of youth and workers were arrested in clashes in a number of cities during the protests in which an estimated 1.2 million people participated. Up to 200 demonstrations took place across the country amidst a number of strikes affecting public hospitals, transport and schools.
The protests continued on 2nd June 2016, with just a fourth of rail services running. The power sector workers, particularly in the atomic power plants which supply about 80% of electricity in France, participated in the strike in a big way on this day, with the result that many trains could not be run due to lack of power! Air traffic controllers too went on strike this week. One of Europe’s largest ports, Le Havre came to a halt, with dock workers going on strike the next day.
The majority of French people oppose the labour reform bill which is yet to become law. One survey by a leading French polling company found that 46% want the bill revoked entirely. Many were angry because of the government’s invocation of a rarely used constitutional clause that allowed it to force the bill through parliament without the usual deliberations. A united national day of protest has been called on June 14, 2016 – the day on which the French Senate will take up the bill.
The bill seeks to amend a labour code which has existed since 1910. It has been under continuous attack from capitalists who say it is “too rigid”, “too complicated” etc and demanding “flexibility” to exploit the workers more.
Though the government backed down on some of its proposals in the wake of massive protests by workers in the past few months, there are still quite a few proposals attacking the rights of workers. The Bill proposes a change in the number of hours that staff can be expected to work each week. Now the government wants to allow companies to ask staff to work up to 46 hours a week, or 60 in exceptional circumstances. The current law also says that workers must have 11 consecutive hours off between shifts, but the government is proposing that this period could be broken up.
The Bill makes it easier to hire and fire people, allows companies to offer lower wages than they currently have to and relaxes rules on special leave, such as parental leave. Workers unions oppose the proposal that allows companies experiencing “economic difficulty” for a certain period of time to make individual deals with employees, which they say mean lower wages and different approaches to overtime. If a company is losing money, it would be able to negotiate individually with workers to pay them less. If the workers refuse, the firm then would be able to let employees vote on the matter, and only 30% would need to agree to lower pay for the employer to enforce it!
Current law makes it illegal for a company to lay off a worker if it is profitable to do so. But the government is proposing that a company can fire an employee if its revenues have fallen for one month for a small business, three successive quarters for medium-size businesses and a year for larger companies.
It is worth mentioning that though the French workers have the shortest legal workweek in Europe, it doesn’t mean they work less than everyone else. In Britain, staff can be asked to work up to 48 hours a week, a limit mandated by the European Union. But in reality, the French people work an average 36.1 hours a week, similar to those in Britain, who work 36.5. Moreover, France is one of the most productive countries in the world in terms of per-capita productivity according to several studies. Hence the workers justifiably argue that there is no case for making them work longer hours per week.
Workers in Germany and other countries support their class brothers
The capitalists in Germany and other neighbouring countries of Belgium and France are naturally afraid of the prospect of workers in their countries taking to the streets as well. The monopoly media in Germany, controlled by the big capitalists, have tried to restrict the coverage of events in Belgium and France. However the blackout could hardly be maintained when literally millions of people were taking to the streets in neighbouring France.
Thousands of workers and justice-loving people in Germany have used social media, letters in newspapers, roadside meetings and various other means to voice their solidarity with the working people of Belgium and France.
Solidarity actions have been planned in many places in Europe and in the USA on June 14, 2016, when massive protests are planned in France to coincide with the discussion on the Bill planned in the French Senate.
Workers in Europe have won many rights through years of arduous struggle. These rights are under attack once again in the name of making their economies “competitive” – in other words, to ensure super profits for the monopoly capitalists. The workers of Belgium and France are waging a heroic struggle to protect their rights. This struggle deserves the support of the working people all over the world, including of the working people of India.