The noise started at about noon, softly at first, so that I had to turn off the radio to really hear what it was: a crowd. A big one, by the sound of it, but that's always a bit hard to guess because I'm way up in the sky, overlooking a huge square, so there's plenty of opportunity for sound to bounce around.
I thought maybe it was a Mardi Gras carnival, but that's not happening in Paris until this weekend, and it's not scheduled to pass by my place, so...I crane my neck a bit to see, but so far traffic is running normally and the square is empty.
Then I hear the familiar sounds of people chanting into a bullhorn, the crowd chanting back. "Oh swell, a manif." Manifestations, or demonstrations, happen all of the time in Paris. I read recently that there are over 500 per year (they're always registered in advance to organize the police escort through traffic). Since I live on a busy boulevard, they come through here a lot. Other areas that attract a lot of manifs are République and Bastille. Anyone who works from home (or worse, is home sick in bed trying to sleep), knows that these noisy demonstrations, which can go on for hours as they file past or gather in the square, are a major annoyance.
The bullhorns, the foghorns, the whistles, the chanting, the music blaring over scratchy speakers hauled in the back of a beat-up van...there's not much that can drown out this sound. I mean, I could turn up my stereo really loud, but that would just piss off the neighbors, and I can't really get any work done that way anyway.
So I'm annoyed.
By 1pm the noise was much louder, so I peeked out the window again just as they filed past my apartment building. They were only in one lane of traffic (so that cars could still use the other side), which meant they'd be stretched out for kilometers. I tried to read their banners (understanding what they're chanting is impossible, even for the French), but it seems to be a requirement in French manifs that the banners are hastily-made on droopy sheets with spray paint cans. Of course I couldn't read what it said.
At 2pm I was getting hungry and Pedro and Lena's bladders were ripe, so I bundled up to go outside. There were actually flurries this morning when I first went out, but the foot of snow I was hoping for didn't pan out. Bummer. It might have covered up some of the trash the protesters left behind. That's another thing I hate about demonstrations: they pollute. There are flyers, spent firecracker shells, stickers pasted everywhere, and lots of food garbage. Once there was even a
merguez-frites cart (like a French version of a hotdog stand) set up outside my building to feed the hungry protesters. The marchers had made their way around the Place d'Italie to the Avenue de l'Hopital, but my street was still lined with CRS (riot police) for three blocks. They were keeping cars from turning down the side streets leading to Boulevard de l'Hôpital. Great use of tax money. Hmph!
I asked one of them what was up. "Un manifestation," he said, eyeing my little poop machines -- I
ramasse, thank you very much! There's no word in French for "Duh!" so I asked what it was for. "Contre le CPE, contrat première embauche."
Of course. They were students (and other younguns, I assume) protesting the new hiring laws for the "first job" (
première embauche). In a nutshell, the standard French contract for a permenent job includes a three-month trial period. The employee can be fired at any time during this period. After the three months are up (assuming the company decides to give you the contract), employees can breathe a sigh of relief: at this point they can't be fired or laid off without a huge compensation package (unless they do something illegal). A lot of people, moi included, thinks this is why customer service sucks. If you're not worried about getting fired, why work harder? (on the flip side, I don't think we Americans have a better work ethic; I just think we're scared sh*tless of getting fired so we kiss customer butt).
But obviously this makes employers wary of hiring people, especially "first-jobbers" who have no track record. So the government, trying to make a compromise and encourage companies to take more risks, introduced this "CPE", a contract where the trial period is extended to two years. Of course the French students are unhappy. That means they have to kiss butt a lot longer, and even then they could be fired. I try and explain to some friends that there are no "trial periods" in the US. That basically you can fired anytime, no matter how long you've been at a company.
Many French people actually know this, and obviously it's one of the things they don't admire about the United States. They may like our movies and music, but they'd rather pass on the job insecurity and lack of universal healthcare. Me, I'm a bit of a mutt in my opinions. I think the French are too cozy (and being a freelancer rather than an employee I don't get to enjoy any of that coziness), but I also think it's absurd how terrified average Americans are of losing their jobs. I think something in between the two would be good, so a two-year trial for the first job isn't a bad thing, and will hopefully decrease the high rate of unemployment amongst the French youth.
