The Daily Observer

France is in turmoil again. The students and the employee unions are fighting against the new French law that the France’s new primeminister, Dominique de Villepin has architected to improve the unemployment rate amongst the youth in the country. The First Employment Contract(CPE) allows the French employers to hire young workers on a probhationary status. It makes it easy for the employers to hire and fire young workers during thefirst two years of their employment. The idea is to encourage the businesses to hire more people without fearing the pro-socialist employment laws in France, which  would make it very difficult for the employers to fire their employees.

I see passing this law as a step in the right direction. But, the unions and  students are worried about the job security. One basic thing that these protesting groups need to understand is that,their idealogy hurts the empolyees (and potential employees) more than it would help them. Think about it , The current employment laws in France are not very conducive for the employers. So, If I were a French businessman, I would try to meet my staffing needs as much as possible outside France where the employment laws are more reasonable. Thanks to the current technology,  I can do it.

Under these circumstances, French companies like Airbus and ST Microelectronics, rely on huge government subsidies to stay competetive in the global market. For a small country like France, with limited natural resources there is limit to which even the government can help develop new businesses. A talented individual who has confidence and brains cannot thrive very well in such an over protective system. In essence, these unions which claim to be protecting the interests of the workers are actually causing harm to the employee’s(and employer’s) interests.

But then, If you don’t have a job then there is no fear of loosing your job. Is that the form of job security, these protesting unions and students  in France are fighting for?