The reform of the French labour code, referred to as Loi Travail (labour law), was announced at the beginning of 2016 by the French socialist government. The reform is complex as it touches many areas, from working time to the ‘right to disconnect’ (meaning the right not to be permanently available through IT devices). The key changes entail shifting collective bargaining from branch to company level, decreasing over-time pay, and making redundancies easier. In short, it is about the flexibilisation of work.
From the outset, the French trade unions, workers, and many young people protested against the law in its totality, all of this while the country was in a state of emergency after several attacks linked to Islamic State.
The protests were diverse in composition[1] and creative in tactics, earning them the title ‘movement’. They demonstrate the anger of the working class as well as young people’s perception that there is no future for anyone. Determined to pass the reform, the state reacted violently to the protests. The reform came into force on 1 January 2017, while the state of emergency is still in place and the far right on the rise.
