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GUEST: Elaine Bernard, Executive Director of the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard University

This month millions of students and workers have risen up in France in opposition to a proposed labor law aimed at unemployed youth. The “First Employment Contract” as it’s called, among other things, allow workers between the ages of 18 to 26 — to be fired without cause during their first two years of employment. General unemployment in France is over 9 percent. This number jumps to 22 percent among non-student jobseekers under the age of 25. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has promoted the law as a means to greater employment. The Prime Minister now faces an ultimatum from union leaders to withdraw the employment law that set off huge nationwide demonstrations and sporadic violence over the weekend, or face a general strike.