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Article: France's not-so-social partners.(French Enterprise Movement to withdraw from joint management with the unions of social-security funds in France)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- January 22, 2000
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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PARIS
TRADITIONALLY, it is France's trade unions that play tough with the government; now it is the employers too. On January 18th, the general assembly of the French Enterprise Movement, known as Medef, decided by a vote of 96% to withdraw from the joint management with the unions of France's social-security funds. Since this post-war partnership, found elsewhere in Europe only in Belgium, has helped provide the foundation of France's welfare state, the Socialist-led coalition of Lionel Jospin clearly faces a problem.
How big remains to be seen. Certainly, the style of Ernest-Antoine Seilliere, Medef's president, is unashamedly confrontational: last ...