France: Unemployed protest against "Catalan Tony Blair"
01 September 1998
On September 19, 800 protesters took to the streets of Perpignan, (Pyrenees-Orientales), to demonstrate their anger at apparent plans to introduce a system akin to the Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) in the department. The president of the departmental council and Socialist deputy, Christian Bourquin, allegedly discussed the matter with the Minister for Employment and Solidarity, Martine Aubry. Regional newspapers have quoted him as saying that those receiving unemployment benefit (RMI) must make a contribution to the society which is helping them. Marc Blondel, general secretary of the trade union Force Ouvriere, supporting those who gathered to protest, stated that he saw no reason to posit any kind of obligation on the part of the unemployed, who are already in a situation that they do not wish to be in. Bourquin, branded by protesters as the new Catalan Tony Blair, has carefully avoided speaking of "travail obligatoire" (compulsory work), which in France recalls the conscription of workers for German industry by the Vichy administration, known as the Service du Travail Obligatoire. He has, however, insisted that France is not a "lay-about" society. It is possible that a JSA-type scheme could be tested in the Pyrenees-Orientales, where the percentage of those on unemployment benefit is twice the national average, before being introduced at departmental level across the country. Liberation 21.9.98; Le Monde 22.9.98