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No breakthrough on divisive French job law
Associated Press
Published March 25, 2006
PARIS - Union leaders failed in talks Friday to force France's prime minister to withdraw a divisive new jobs law, saying they would go ahead with plans for a nationwide strike next week.
Protests by university and high school students, sometimes drawing crowds numbering in the tens of thousands, have surged in recent days over the measure, testing the strength of the conservative government before elections next year.
"We are facing a total refusal," Francois Chereque, secretary general of the CFDT union, said after a 75-minute meeting with Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.
The only apparent concession from Villepin was an invitation for the leading student groups to meet with him today, but that was declined, said Karl Stoeckel of the UNL union. Two smaller student groups, however, have agreed to meet with Villepin.
Villepin's meeting with five leading unions got off to a combative start, with labor leaders riled by President Jacques Chirac's declaration earlier in the day that the law must be applied.
Villepin described Friday's meeting as "a first step," but it remained unclear how he would calm the student protests.
The jobs law, meant to put the brakes on sky-high unemployment among youths and make France's economy more flexible, would allow employers to more easily hire - and fire - workers under 26.
[Last modified March 25, 2006, 01:51:17]
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