On October 4, at least one million workers joined a general strike across France in opposition to stagnant wages and privatisation. Strikers demanded an end to the implementation of labour laws, passed over the northern summer, which allow companies that employ less than 20 workers to sack workers at anytime without justification if they have been employed for less than two years. Previously workers could only be summarily dismissed in the first six months of employment. On October 5, Bloomsberg reported that 150,000 people participated in a protest rally in Paris and thousands more joined protests in other cities.

From Green Left Weekly, October 12, 2005.
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