--- title: Massive Protests Across France Decry Possible Labor Reforms description: French protesters numbering in the hundreds of thousands assembled in cities across the country on Thursday to decry labor reforms canonical: https://time.com/4278834/labor-strike-france-hollande-workweek/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-01T05:03:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:23:48.360Z article:section: World og:title: Massive Protests Across France Decry Possible Labor Reforms og:description: The Socialist government has suggested lengthening the country's workweek. og:url: https://time.com/4278834/labor-strike-france-hollande-workweek/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60f31afaf2e1ff5f/69888d4b8e06018543465419/rtsd156.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: French gendarmes clean debris after youths set fire to garbage bins and caddies as French high school and university students attend a demonstration against the French labour law proposal in Nantes og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Massive Protests Across France Decry Possible Labor Reforms twitter:description: The Socialist government has suggested lengthening the country's workweek. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60f31afaf2e1ff5f/69888d4b8e06018543465419/rtsd156.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Massive Protests Across France Decry New Possible Labor Reforms by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Apr 1, 2016 5:03 AM CUT  French gendarmes clean debris after youths set fire to garbage bins and caddies as French high school and university students attend a demonstration against the French labour-law proposal in Nantes, France, on March 31, 2016 French gendarmes clean debris after youths set fire to garbage bins and caddies as French high school and university students attend a demonstration against the French labour-law proposal in Nantes, France, on March 31, 2016Stephane Mahe—Reuters by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Apr 1, 2016 5:03 AM CUT French protesters numbering in the hundreds of thousands [assembled in cities across the country](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/03/france-mass-protests-proposed-labour-reforms-160331180555863.html "undefined") Thursday demonstrating against proposed labor reforms they say will diminish workers’ rights. The protests come amid a national workers’ strike against the proposed policies, which will lengthen the prescribed workweek — 48 hours, compared with the current 35 — and allow employers to fire and hire employees with greater ease, al-Jazeera reports. The bill, to be discussed by lawmakers next month, comes in response to France’s languishing economy, marked by an unemployment rate of 10% and mounting public hostility toward Socialist President François Hollande. “It’s shocking that a Socialist government introduced this law,” one 23-year-old protester said to the Associated Press. She was one of nearly 30,000 who gathered in the capital’s streets in a demonstration that turned violent. More than 100 people were arrested after protesters lobbed paint bombs at storefronts and detonated smoke canisters as tensions with police flared. Authorities estimate that 390,000 people participated in Thursday’s protests; unions place that figure at upwards of 1 million. \[[_Al-Jazeera_](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/03/france-mass-protests-proposed-labour-reforms-160331180555863.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4278834/labor-strike-france-hollande-workweek/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4278834/labor-strike-france-hollande-workweek/"},"headline":"Massive Protests Across France Decry New Possible Labor Reforms","datePublished":"2016-04-01T05:03:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:23:48.360Z","description":"The Socialist government has suggested lengthening the country's workweek","url":"https://time.com/4278834/labor-strike-france-hollande-workweek/","keywords":["France","François Hollande","Labor","paris","socialism"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60f31afaf2e1ff5f/69888d4b8e06018543465419/rtsd156.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60f31afaf2e1ff5f/69888d4b8e06018543465419/rtsd156.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"French gendarmes clean debris after youths set fire to garbage bins and caddies as French high school and university students attend a demonstration against the French labour law proposal in Nantes","caption":"French gendarmes clean debris after youths set fire to garbage bins and caddies as French high school and university students attend a demonstration against the French labour law proposal in Nantes","creditText":"Stephane Mahe—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4278834/labor-strike-france-hollande-workweek/","name":"Massive Protests Across France Decry New Possible Labor Reforms"}}]}] ```