Since February’s announcement from François Hollande and Manuel Valls’s Socialist Party (PS) government that they would “reform” the French labor code, the country’s political life has been rocked by mass protests.

The stakes are high. The proposed bill would weaken workers’ bargaining power and lower wages, while extending working hours and making layoffs easier, compounding existing mass unemployment.

In the past, protests against neoliberal labor bills have come mostly from the organized labor movement. But the struggle has mobilized a much broader base — which took a radical turn in mid-May — and has led to a major political crisis.