French unions threaten more protests on jobs law

PARIS, Apr 9 (Reuters) French unions threatened today to extend protests against a youth job contract unless President Jacques Chirac provides a clear solution to a crisis that has weakened his prime minister.

Chirac will decide tomorrow at a meeting with Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and ruling UMP party members how to make the new measure more acceptable to students and unions.

Unions, who want the CPE first job contract repealed because it removes job security for young people, will meet in the afternoon to work out their next move after weeks of strikes and protests that have sometimes ended violently.

Backers of the contract say it will reduce high youth unemployment by helping employers bypass French laws that make it hard to lay off workers -- something often cited by firms as a disincentive for taking on new hires.

''If tomorrow the message isn't clear, the order of the day will be new action ... before May 1,'' said Annick Coupe, national representative of the Solidaires union.

Chirac, who in an unusual move signed the measure into law but said they must be modified soon, gave the task of talking to critics to make a new plan to parliamentary members of the ruling UMP party, in an effective snub to Villepin.

Villepin's popularity has sunk over the CPE, prompting resignation calls, and he has been weakened within the UMP party, which is headed by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, his potential rival on the right in the 2007 presidential election.

A poll in Le Parisien newspaper indicated more than half of French people think Sarkozy has gained from the crisis while 86 percent say Villepin has been weakened. The same survey had student and trade unions as the biggest winners.

''We don't know what can happen from here, but we don't want to hear any more from them about the CPE,'' Jean-Claude Mailly, head of the Force Ouvriere union told Le Journal du Dimanche.

Newspapers said the plans were ready on Friday but fighting between Sarkozy and Villepin had delayed the announcement.

Health Minister Xavier Bertrand said details were still being worked out.

''We still have work to do today ... whether on the substance or on the method that will be used,'' he told Radio J.

Politicians close to Sarkozy have said he wants the CPE suspended and replaced with a new measure. Villepin has ruled out withdrawing the CPE and rejected resignation calls by promising to battle on to the end.

STUDENTS UNHAPPY Supporters say the new contract, which lets firms fire under 26-year-olds without giving a reason within a two-year trial period, will help cut 22 percent youth unemployment. Critics say it will create a generation of insecure workers.

Students are planning more protests on Tuesday. They have marched alongside older union members in weeks of protests by millions around France demanding the CPE be withdrawn. Schools and universities have been blockaded by the protests and classes have been disrupted ahead of year-end exams.

At the Paris marathon on Sunday, two youths who were waiting at the finish line for their father, who was taking part in the race, were briefly arrested for carrying an anti-CPE sign.

''It's incredible. We came here to support our father and we wrote 'No to the CPE' on the sign because at the moment it's a struggle against the CPE,'' said Lucas Pivowarczyck.

Reuters SY DB2001