Paris - The protest against a new French youth labour law was set to grow more intense Monday as trade unions prepared to meet on a possible general strike and secondary school students threatened to shut their schools down.

According to the head the French secondary school union FIDL, Tristan Rouquier, more than 450 secondary schools were currently disrupted because of the protest, 'with blockages, selective barricades or occupations of the schools.'

'The government no longer has a choice, it must yield,' Rouquier said in a press statement issued as France's major trade unions prepared to meet to decide on how to intensify their fight against the First Hire Contract (CPE).

Trade unions on Saturday gave Villepin 48 hours, or until Monday afternoon, to give in to the demand that the CPE be scrapped or they would broaden their protest, with a distinct possibility that they would call for a general strike.

On Sunday, Bernard Thibault, the head of the CGT trade union, said that a one-day general strike was under consideration.

'If nothing moves, we will propose preparing for a day of general work stoppages in the coming days,' Thibault said.

For Thibault, the CPE is 'a unique precedent,' a reform that 'installs for the first time in Europe the possibility for employers to fire workers at will.'

The law allows employers to fire newly hired workers under the age of 26 without justification for a period of two years.

On Saturday, about 1 million people marched in cities throughout France to demand that the government scrap the CPE. In addition, about 60 of France's 84 universities continue to be disrupted or entirely blocked by students opposed to the reform.

Earlier Monday, entrepreneurs meeting with French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin suggested that a compromise deal on the CPE may be possible.

The heads of French companies who met with Villepin were 'for the most part favourable' to a compromise that would necessitate justifying the firing of a young newly hired worker, and to shortening the probation period to one year, one of the participants at the meeting said.

'There was unanimous agreement to say the firing must absolutely be justified,' according to the head of a French company speaking on condition of anonymity. 'The young (workers) must not be fired without knowing why.'

In addition, almost all the entrepreneurs at the meeting agreed that the trial period should be shortened, the entrepreneur said.

Whether these compromises to the law would be sufficient to defuse the growing protest remained unclear. Trade union leaders have said that its repeal was a prerequisite for talks on how to improve it.

In addition, parliamentary sources said Monday that these changes would necessitate the drawn-out legislative process of changing the law.

On Monday, President Jacques Chirac again called for talks between the government and opponents to the CPE, saying, 'What is at stake in the coming days is to open a constructive and trusting dialogue that will permit us to improve the First Hire Contract.'

The president noted that 'questions and worries have been expressed and that is quite legitimate ... but they must not lead us to do nothing against youth unemployment.'

Late Sunday, Villepin repeated his firm stance on the law and his conviction that 'it will work' to help fight unemployment for the young, which now stands at about 23 per cent, and up to 60 per cent in some of France's suburban ghettoes.

 © 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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