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Sarkozy tries to avert unrest with new aid plans
Wed Feb 18, 2009 2:58pm EST
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By Estelle Shirbon
PARIS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Sarkozy offered to increase help for those hit by economic crisis on Wednesday as mounting violence in the French island of Guadeloupe added urgency to his efforts to avert new protests on the mainland.
A union representative was shot dead and several policemen were wounded by protesters on the Caribbean island overnight as a month-old campaign for pay rises intensified.
The government fears the conflict in Guadeloupe could set off similar protests in mainland France, where up to 2.5 million people took to the streets on January 29 to protest against Sarkozy's strategy to combat the economic crisis.
Sarkozy proposed measures worth 1.65 to 2.65 billion euros ($2.1 to $3.4 billion) to help people with lower incomes weather the economic crisis during a meeting with unionists in Paris.
"Faced with the current situation of workers, the government measures announced are insufficient," said Francois Chereque, head of the large CFDT union, as he came out of the meeting.
Bernard Thibault of the powerful CGT said bosses' representatives who also took part in the talks had been "closed and intransigent" toward workers' demands. He said further days of action like January 29 would be necessary.
The stakes are high for the government in a country with a strong protest culture. A massive wave of strikes in 1995 effectively buried a reform plan championed by the government of the day and Sarkozy is anxious to avoid such a scenario.
His proposals include tax breaks, bonuses for the jobless, increased pay for people temporarily laid off by struggling companies, and the creation of a fund to pay for training for unemployed people to acquire new skills.
POPULARITY SLUMP
Some of these ideas met demands made by unions, but Sarkozy stopped short of offering an across-the-board hike in the legal minimum wage, as advocated by some union leaders.
The new proposals follow a 26 billion-euro stimulus plan to increase investment, announced in December. Opinion polls show a majority of people want Sarkozy to do more to protect jobs, boost low wages and stimulate consumption.
But Sarkozy's margin for maneuver is limited by resistance from bosses who say companies battling the crisis cannot afford any more top-ups for staff, and by budgetary constraints.
Underlining the pressure on Sarkozy, the European Commission started disciplinary procedures against France on Wednesday for exceeding the EU's budget deficit limit.
The French unions have little patience with such arguments and even before their meeting with Sarkozy they had already planned a new day of strikes and protests on March 19.
Sarkozy is struggling to turn the tide of his unpopularity after a disastrous television interview two weeks ago that he hoped would persuade the public to back his economic strategy. Continued...
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