In France, students and workers defeated their government. Three weeks of strikes and mass demonstrations forced Prime Minister Villepin to introduce a new First Employment Contract bill to Parliament.

In France, students and workers defeated their government. Three weeks of strikes and mass demonstrations forced Prime Minister Villepin to introduce a new First Employment Contract bill to Parliament. The former, which was rejected, entitled companies to hire staff under age 26 and lay them off during a two-year probation period without any compensation.

The neoliberal argument in favor of the proposal is the elevated unemployment rate for youths, peaking at 25% and, therefore, that a reduction in the cost of labor by way of more flexible legislation should contribute to yielding jobs. In exchange for the elimination of more flexible labor contracts, the new bill will offer enterprises financial incentives for hiring younger workers.

The result was a political setback for President Jacques Chirac, who had in Villepin a most probable candidate to succeed him in the 2007 presidential elections, and a result that will not be repaired. On the other hand, Interior Minister Sarkozy came out of the process stronger. It is impossible not to compare what happened with the fiasco of the Juppé Plan to reform France’s social security in late 1995. Mobilizations at that moment forced the government to retreat and paved the way for a victory of the French Socialist Party in the following year, electing Lionel Jospin prime minister.

Nonetheless, this time it seems that the Socialist Party did not capitalize on the movement, in spite of the participation of many socialist militants from the different labor federations, which were all united during the protests. As a minority party in Parliament, where the bill was debated and approved, the Socialists did not engage in the demonstrations as a party. A possible motive for that was the fact that it was divided into four prospective presidential candidacies to succeed Chirac in 2007. We’ll just have to wait.

In Germany, a long national strike by civil servants came to an end. The cause for the strike was a concerted effort by local, state and federal governments to extend the working week from 36.5 to 40 hours, without a proportional raise in salaries. The strike ended when workers accepted to increase the working week in one hour, to 37.5 hours.

At the same time this strike ends, German IG-Metal metalworkers’ union prepares its own after the bargaining process failed on account of a discrepancy between workers’ demands, a 5% pay raise, and the 1.2% counterproposed by employers. A huge strike is expected after Easter.

A recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO) warns of a shortage of health professionals in developing countries, particularly in the poorest of Africa and Asia. In addition to the shortage, many of those who graduate in these countries migrate to wealthier countries in search of better wages (Read more).

In Nepal, a general strike against King Gyanendra, under the coordination of trade union federations and the main opposition parties, is underway. Strikers call for the redemocratization of the country which, after a military coup overthrew the country’s parliamentarian monarchy in February 2005, became an absolute monarchy. A state of siege was imposed in the capital Katmandu and other cities. Thus far there have been five casualties caused by police repression besides hundreds of arrests.

With the FTAA in a coma, the US set out to negotiate bilateral free trade agreements. The morning after Peruvian elections, President Alejandro Toledo, at the end of his term, went to Washington to sign a US-Peru Free Trade Agreement. Yet the signing is not enough to ensure its implementation, which requires the approval of both congresses, the American and the Peruvian. A recent mobilization in Peru collected enough signatures to oblige the government to submit the matter to a referendum.