A revolution brewing: la Nuit debout

Since March 31, the place de la République in Paris has been the host of the ‘ nuit debout ’ (literally, standing at night) movement. On these nights, hundreds of people have been gathering and holding ‘general assemblies’.

The idea of these open-air debates is, for the most part, to mobilise students of Paris against the proposed reform to the French labour code tabled in the French legislative assembly on March 24, 2016 (the El Khomri draft law on the labour code after the French minister of labour).

A spontaneous movement, la Nuit debout has been described as the training ground for innovative citizens and a true laboratory enriched by public debates. The place de la République is equipped with a ‘standing radio’ and a ‘standing TV’ and is spreading to other cities in France such as Toulouse, Rennes and Lyon. According to the rules, the moderator of the evening controls the speaking time — not more than three minutes per person. The speakers are registered on a list and must wait for their turn. At the microphone, the people of the left — professors, students, grandmothers, poets and anarchists — protest and convey their feelings of betrayal.

A continuous stream of people comes to the place de la République for more than five hours. To do what and to say what?

Divided into seven chapters, the El Khomri (Myriam El Khomri is France’s labour minister) draft law on the labour code deals with the French labour code. The essential principles of the labour code are to serve as a basis for a rewriting of the code according to a new architecture in three parts: rules of public order from which it is not possible to derogate, a field for collective negotiation, default rules applicable in the case of an agreement. These parts are to be applicable to paid leave and work timings.

The El Khomri draft law creates a commission in charge of leading this work to its conclusion in a two-year time-frame. New powers are to be given to the minister of labour to enable a voluntary reduction of the number of branches of companies.

Collective agreements are to be progressively majoritarian and trade unions having gathered at least 30 per cent of votes of the employees would be able to trigger a consultation of the employees. Rules of owner representation are modified in order to reach a better balance between the number of companies and employees covered in each organisation.

In parallel, the rules of termination and amendment of agreements are revised to make negotiation more dynamic. The collective agreement could, when employment is in question, lead to simplified procedures for management to refuse amending the labour contract.

Finally, the personal business account created by the draft law is advocated as a new way to protect the employed. Its goal is to give each worker the capacity to build his or her own professional career in this constantly evolving working world.

The personal business account will not concern only the salaried but all employed, including public agents and independent workers, thus guaranteeing the transportability of rights regardless of changes in employment and status. The personal business account is to enter into force on January 1, 2017.

But according to surveys, 70 per cent of French people are opposed to this draft law. Critics point out that the conditions of termination of contracts are made more flexible while limiting employee claims. Doubts are raised on who will verify whether the conditions of termination are respected, who will negotiate the time of work in small and medium enterprises and who will verify and how that supplementary hours are put in on a voluntary basis.

Others feel that it is not the labour code that must be amended but rather the manner of thinking of ownership. They point out that the interest of salaried people is not respected as working hours are sought to be increased from an average of 44 hours for 12 weeks to more than 46 hours in 16 weeks.

During this period, salaried people can work until 48 hours per week, even 60 hours in case of an exceptional need.

The El Khomri draft law provides for an apprentice of less than 18 years to work more than eight hours per day (up to ten hours) and more than 35 hours per week (up to 40 hours) in “exceptional circumstances”. This has been widely criticised.

Presently, the French labour code is fluid on circumstances allowing dismissal on grounds of economic difficulties or technological upgrades. They are left to the discretion of companies, in case of dispute. The draft law specifies these circumstances in a pointed manner and critics point out the draft law enables a company to declare itself in economic difficulty very easily.

In its bid to increase productivity, efficiency and streamline processes, the El Khomri draft law introduces many bold and ambitious measures. Continued ongoing protests indicate that the French labour market is not ready for such sweeping changes.

Some have termed the protests a revolution and indicate that a rapid increased productivity is perhaps not what people are seeking. Social dialogue with government is a step to modifying hard decisions taken for economic development.

The open-air debates triggered by the draft law on the French labour code also show that politics may not just be for people from the left and the right but for each citizen willing to articulate his views in a public forum.

The writer was a lawyer in France and now teaches French at Delhi University

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