French President François Hollande and French Prime Minister Manuel Valls prior to the weekly cabinet meeting at Elysee Palace in Paris, France, June 15, 2016 | Christophe Petit Tesson/EPA French government, union fail to agree on labor reform after violent protest Prime Minister Manuel Valls is sticking to a hard line as bill winds through parliament.

PARIS — France's Socialist government refused Friday to accept union demands to scrap a controversial labor reform, two days after a major protest against it turned violent and caused damage to a children's hospital.

After weeks of strikes and protests against the bill, which aims to loosen labor restrictions, Labor Minister Myriam El Khomri met with hard-left labor leader Philippe Martinez. But the brief meeting, the first between them in months, ended in failure with both sides saying they were no closer to a deal.

"We have disagreements that are nothing new," El Khomri, who has given her name to the bill, told journalists after the meeting.

Said Martinez, who heads the CGT union: "There are points of disagreement between the CGT and the government on the basics, and those disagreements were confirmed today."

The outcome suggests Prime Minister Manuel Valls is sticking to a hard line against trade unions. While protests and strikes have caused limited disruptions during Euro 2016, union leaders are struggling to maintain momentum in various professional branches, and their movement is losing steam.

After a protest with minimal turnout ended in violence Wednesday, President François Hollande doubled down against the unions, proposing to ban future protests if their organizers were unable to guarantee minimal security. His move, denounced as undemocratic by far-left opponents, underscored confidence that the government can prevail in a months-long standoff.

Late Thursday, the upper house Senate voted to pass the labor bill, whose main feature is allowing firms to negotiate in-house labor deals that will trump the 35-hour work week and other national restrictions.

The Right-controlled chamber toughened up the bill, scrapping the 35-hour week. But the government is likely to reintroduce the 35 hours, a totem of the Socialist left, and re-soften the bill when it comes back to the lower house National Assembly for a final vote.

At that point, Valls will probably have to resort for the second time to a controversial constitutional decree known as "49-3" to force the bill through parliament, due to opposition from rebel backbenchers in its own camp. Leftists opponents of the government have already vowed that they will try to topple the government in that event.

Their last attempt to do so, after the last use of the 49-3, narrowly failed.