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French labor reforms to widen inequality: Analyst

Wednesday, 15 June 2016 4:59 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 15 June 2016 5:00 AM ]

Masked people build barricades during a protest against proposed labor reforms in Paris, France, June 14, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Press TV has conducted an interview with Ian Williams, a senior analyst at Foreign Policy in Focus, and Mark Thornton, a senior fellow at Ludwig von Mises Institute, to discuss the mass protests in the French capital against government labor reforms.

Williams says the French government labor reforms bill is a “neo-liberal travesty” that does not increase employment. He says it adds to inequality.

He also says the bill is a “faith-based argument” that has no connection with economic reality.

“It is this type of neo-liberal theology which is inspiring [President] Hollande to act against the will of most of the French people... There is no proof that these measures will in anyway increase employment, if anything it is the contrary,” he says.

Williams says the bill will “impoverish” workers and widen the inequality gap.

“The empirical evidence across the world does not relate relaxing of labor protections with an increase of employment. It just increases insecurity of employment. It means that people are less secure in their jobs, less prepared possibly to fight for higher wages and better conditions and that is the idea,” the analyst says.

Thornton, for his part, believes the right to fire people actually increases the demand for labor and it also creates more competitive labor markets in terms of the wages and benefits that employers have to offer.

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