BY NAT LONDON
PARIS - With government ministers openly squabbling among
themselves over how to respond to the occupations of dozens of
unemployment centers throughout France by workers and youth
demanding more jobs and higher unemployment benefits, Socialist
Party prime minister Lionel Jospin went on French television
January 9 to announce a 1 billion franc ($165 million)
emergency aid package for the unemployed. The next day, at 6:00
a.m., Jospin sent the CRS riot police to evacuate about 20
occupied centers. In at least one city, Arras, the police
violently attacked the demonstrators, sending one unemployed
worker to the hospital.
Associations of the unemployed called the aid package a "first but insufficient step," and said the protests would continue "in other forms."
Thousands of jobless workers and others marched through Paris January 13 chanting "Unemployment - we're fed up!" The demonstration, estimated at between 5,000 and 10,000 people, was the second within a week. Among the contingents from unions and unemployed organizations was a delegation of African sans papiers (undocumented) immigrants who have been fighting for their rights in France, as well as a group of Asian immigrants. Also among the contingents was a group of about 30 cops belonging to a police "union."
The same day about 6,000 workers protested in Marseilles, and smaller actions were held across the country. Unemployed organizations and trade unions are now building for a national day of demonstrations for January 20.
The protesters have been demanding a 3,000 franc ($500) Christmas bonus for the unemployed, a general increase of 1,500 francs ($250) a month in minimum social benefits, a guaranteed annual income equal to the minimum wage, and an entire restructuring of the unemployment system. The government has refused to discuss a general increase in minimum social benefits.
The protests have been organized by three national unemployed associations - AC!, APEIS, and MNCP - and the CGT Committee for the Defense of the Unemployed. The CGT is a major union confederation that has ties to the Communist Party (CP). The two social democratic union confederations, the CFDT and FO, have opposed the actions.
The occupations quickly led to open divisions in the government, which came to power in May headed by the Socialist Party. It includes the Communist Party, Greens, and several smaller formations. The Greens and the CP generally support the protests. The Labor and Employment minister, Martine Aubry of the Socialist Party, condemned them as "illegal actions."
Alain Bocquet, president of the French CP group in the National Assembly, called the January 10 police intervention a "serious human and political error." Dominique Voynet, Minister of the Environment and leader of the Greens, supported Jospin's decision to call in the CRS riot cops. She had previously supported the occupations.
The fascist press has virulently denounced the actions at unemployment offices. The National Hebdo, a weekly that supports the National Front, a fascist party led by Jean-Marie Le Pen, called the protests a "political maneuver launched by the Communist Party in order to put pressure on the government and - above all - take over the popular electorate attracted to the National Front." The threat to "public order" that the occupations represented should not be allowed "to go too far," the fascist paper warned. At the same time, National Front leaders are demagogically expressing sympathy for the unemployed, blaming immigrants and "15 years of socialism" for the high jobless rate.
"French, immigrants, young and old -everyone in the Marseilles occupation was really together in a fantastic spirit of solidarity," said Eric Ducoing, a young leader of one of the unemployed groups. He talked to Militant correspondents in the Paris office of AC! (Act together against unemployment!), an association that campaigns for the rights of unemployed.
Unemployment remains high in France. The official level is 12.4 percent, which represents 3.1 million workers. Hundreds of thousands - particularly youth - have been out of work for a long time and have used up their unemployment compensation.
"Unemployment benefits were scaled back starting in 1993 when a new system was instituted," Ducoing said. "Benefits are now reduced by 17 percent after four months and are reduced another 17 percent after six months. When unemployment benefits reach a fixed minimal level, the unemployed worker is eligible for other social benefits instead of regular unemployment. Only 43 percent of registered unemployed are receiving regular benefits today. The rest are on various forms of welfare -if they are lucky."
A recent poll showed that 48.8 percent of the unemployed do not have the necessary medical care because of the low rate of unemployment benefits. The various welfare funds have now also come under attack. On July 2, 1997, the UNEDIC - a joint union and employer committee that manages the unemployment insurance funds - reduced access to one of the principle benefits, called the Allocation Solidarité (Solidarity Fund). This cut eligibility to those who had worked a minimum of four months in the last 18. This effectively cut off the last resources for tens of thousands of young people. The measure, approved by the bosses and by the CFDT and FO unions but opposed by the CGT, went into effect October 1.
These cutbacks came into direct conflict with actions organized by unemployed workers in Marseilles who were demanding a renewal of the Christmas bonus they had won in previous years. In December 1995, in the midst of the railroad workers strikes that paralyzed the country, 15,000 unemployed workers demonstrated in Marseille and won a 1,400 franc ($233) Christmas bonus for 18,373 unemployed. The next year, a similar bonus was won for 60,000 unemployed workers. However, when the protests began in 1997, workers were told that the cutbacks in the Solidarity Fund made a Christmas bonus impossible.
Outraged, jobless workers started to occupy unemployment offices throughout the Marseilles area on December 11. Soon eight out of 13 offices in the area were occupied and the occupations began to take place in other cities. As soon as the CRS could evacuate one center, others were occupied in other cities. In some cases, local town halls were occupied, as well as various other government offices and, in one case, a bank.
As the protests spread they centered on raising regular benefits for all the unemployed - not just through a special Christmas bonus. "We are also for reducing the work week in order to create jobs and reduce unemployment," Ducoing told the Militant.
Laurent Raiola did not spend Christmas as usual this year. On December 27 he demonstrated in Paris with 300 supporters of the unemployed associations. "We took over the Social Action Center, a government office, before the CRS could block the entrance," he said. With 25 others, Raiola was still barricaded inside a week later. The CRS had surrounded the center and the only means the demonstrators had to communicate with the outside world was by telephone or posting handwritten messages in the windows. Like three or four other demonstrators, Raiola has a job, but the others were all unemployed and ranged in age from 20 - 60 years old. "We only agreed to voluntarily leave the center when the Paris Prefecture agreed to give 1,800 francs ($300) to a list of unemployed workers in the greatest financial difficulty," he added.
Opponents initially tried to ridicule the protests as the political mobilization of a tiny minority. But there was widespread support by workers and youth for the occupations. One national poll showed 63 percent supporting the actions.
This comes at a time when tensions are growing around the government's plans to present a draft law to reduce the work week to 35 hours. Attacks on the government's plan by right- wing French president Jacques Chirac have become a daily phenomenon. On January 13 five employers organizations issued a joint statement urging the government to drop its draft law.
Claude Bleton contributed in the preparation of this article.