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French workers in third national strike
The French National Sport...The third nationwide strike in as many weeks will begin in France tonight as public-sector workers protest against government plans to reform the pension system. How does anything get done over there? Oh, that's right. Nothing's supposed to get done over there. Forget I mentioned it. The 24-hour strikes, timed to coincide with the return to work after a long holiday weekend and with a parliamentary debate of the reform plans, threaten to cripple public transport again. Transport unions, which hobbled rail and air services and grounded most international flights last week, said they would resume action from 7pm British time, threatening the return of hundreds of people from the Pentecost holiday weekend. Screw the people! But that's okay. Everybody who gets screwed in this strike will just screw these people over when their union goes on strike. It's so simplisme! "We will relaunch the action after Pentecost," Marc Blondel, the head of France's third biggest union, Force Ouvrier, told television channel LCI. France's CGT union said in a statement that railway workers would take part in the strike, which is also backed by electricity workers. It has proposed further action in the rail sector on 12 and 15 June. A srike a week, that's all we ask... The action recalls strikes in 1995, also over pension reform, which damaged the conservative government of the time. It lost power in 1997. The incumbent centre-right government is showing no sign of backing down, vowing to forge ahead with the reforms requiring workers to pay into the state pension scheme for 40 years from 2008, in line with the private sector, up from 37.5 years now. The compromise will be to add 2.5 years vacation time to everyone's contracts to cover the disparity. That'll keep everybody happy. The measure is designed to cope with an "age crunch" expected to hit the system later this decade as the post-war baby-boom generation floods into retirement. Air France said on Friday it could see some disturbances to short and medium-haul flights because of the strike but had not changed its schedule. Air traffic controller unions have said they will join the strike, which could force authorities to limit the number of flights. So why should Air France even go through the effort when the ATC's will take care of that end for them. Teachers opposed to changes affecting university autonomy and the transfer of staff have also threatened a walkout on 12 June if talks with the government, scheduled for tomorrow, prove unsatisfactory. And, somehow, you get the feeling they will. Parents and students fear the industrial action will disrupt the annual secondary school exams due to start that day. The government says it will take "maximum precautions" to ensure the exams go smoothly. Unless the test givers go on strike. Which they will eventually. Yes, I quake in fear when I think of the French led EU giving us a run for our money economically and productivity wise. Pay attention, Europe. Posted by: tu3031 2003-06-09 |
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