US embassy cable - 05PARIS2975

UNCLAS PARIS 002975 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/WE, EUR/ERA, EUR/PPD, DRL/IL, INR/EUR AND EB 
DEPT OF LABOR FOR ILAB 
DEPT OF COMMERCE FOR ITA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, ELAB, EU, FR, PINR, SOCI, ECON 
SUBJECT: GROWING DISCORD OVER ABOLISHED HOLIDAY THREATENS A 
RESURGENCE OF SOCIAL UNREST IN RUN-UP TO MAY 29 REFERENDUM 
 
REF: A. (A) PARIS 2746 AND PREVIOUS 
     B. (B) PARIS 2942 AND PREVIOUS 
     C. (C) PARIS 2825 
     D. (D) PARIS 2663 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
1.  (SBU) A government initiative to fund health care for the 
elderly through the elimination of the Whit Monday holiday is 
meeting strong opposition from organized labor and leftist 
political activists.  Discord over this "day of solidarity", 
May 16, could provoke strikes and unrest in the run-up to the 
referendum on the EU Constitution May 29 (reftel B).  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
ELIMINATION OF HOLIDAY 
---------------------- 
2.  (U) Legislation passed last year turned the Whit Monday 
holiday (the Monday after Pentecost) into a normal working 
day.  The law called for 0.3% of an employee's yearly wages 
-- the equivalent of a day's work )- to be turned over to a 
National Solidarity Fund to improve health care for the 
elderly and handicapped.  The fund is expected to collect 2.6 
billion USD (2 billion euros).  Although initially passed 
with little opposition, the law has been heavily criticized 
in recent weeks.  One opinion poll shows that 74 percent of 
French workers are against the plan. 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR OBJECTS 
----------------------- 
3.  (SBU) France's major trade union federations have all 
objected to the project.  France's highest court for 
administrative matters, the State Council, is expected to 
rule May 3 on a case brought by the French Confederation of 
Christian Workers (CFTC), which argues the law is contrary to 
the European Convention of Human Rights, ban on forced 
labor.  The Force Ouvriere (FO) federation also plans legal 
action. 
 
MAY 16 -- NEURALGIC MOMENT IN RUN-UP TO MAY 29 
--------------------------------------------- - 
4.  (SBU) The run-up to the referendum on the EU Constitution 
has already seen a wave of protest activity, which the 
government has tried to turn off (reftel A).  Whit Monday 
falls on May 16 this year, just two weeks before the May 29 
referendum.  A range of labor and activist organizations are 
calling for strikes and demonstrations that day, threatening 
to make May 16 the focal point for a second wave of street 
protests and demonstrations.  The government fears these 
could have an unsettling effect on public opinion, 
exacerbating widespread discontent with economic prospects, 
just as many undecided voters are turning their attention to 
how they will vote on May 29 (reftels C and D). 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
5.  (SBU) There is additional tension to the Whit Monday 
dispute between labor groups and the conservative government, 
as unions attempt to use the government's need for calm on 
the social front in the run-up to the referendum to gain 
concessions, and the GOF tries to hold its ground.  Both 
sides could easily mismanage their conflict, setting loose 
repercussions in public opinion that, in the view of most 
observers, would most likely bolster already well-entrenched 
'vote-no' sentiment.  END COMMENT. 
ROSENBLATT