MANCHESTER WORKERS' LIBERTY PUBLIC MEETING
MANCHESTER WORKERS' LIBERTY PUBLIC MEETING
STUDENTS AND WORKERS CAN WIN TOGETHER - LESSONS FROM FRANCE
This Spring a massive movement of students and workers forced the French government to withdraw the CPE – a law which would have given employers the right to sack young workers without reason. This was a revolt against the whole system of “neo-liberalism” — the capitalism of today — in which jobs become less secure and workers have to adapt more “flexibly” to the demands of employers while profits spiral.
Students occupied the universities, blockaded roads and railway lines and defended themselves against the riot police. They decided the course of the movement in democratic assemblies, coordinated across the country.
Thousands of workers went on strike to support them. Most of these workers were not affected directly by the CPE.
But they knew about “neo-liberalism” — and about solidarity. Faced with this movement, the government had to back down.
Could this 'only happen in France', as the press claims? Or can we build a similar movement here?
Dan Randall (NUS Executive, personal capacity) will give an eye-witness account of the French movement and its lessons for Britain.
Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, Manchester (behind Central Library)