The French love to strike. La grève is the closest thing that Republican France has to representative government. In most industrialized countries strikes are used judiciously, so when used, they are used to effect. The French strike both reflexively and seasonally and they strike a lot. The foremost objective of a French strike is not to obtain concrete concessions. The foremost objective of a French strike is to publicly announce oneself as miserable.
JANVIER
SERIES OF PUBLIC SECTOR STRIKES BRINGS MISERY TO FRANCE
PARIS January 19, 2005 (Guardian) - Delayed postal deliveries, cancelled doctors appointments, closed schools and erratic train services - a series of public sector strikes is making life hard in France this week. ... Despite irritation with the industrial action, about 65% of people questioned for a survey in Le Parisien said they sympathised with the decisions by teachers, rail and postal workers, doctors and civil servants to protest at proposed changes to their working conditions.
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FÉVRIER
FRENCH PROTESTS OVER 35-HOUR WEEK
Febuary 6, 2005 (BBC)- Thousands of people have taken part in demonstrations across France against the centre-right government's plan to reform the 35-hour week. ... Police estimated about 300,000 people took part in marches across France. ... Demonstrators have been buoyed by a recent poll showing that at least 69% of the French public supports the current protests.
And protests against education reform.
------------------------------------------------------
MARS
STRIKE 'THREATENS' PARIS OLYMPIC BID*
PARIS March 10, 2005 (Guardian) - A widespread strike in France today brought chaos to public transport and ports, with the one-day action coming as members of the International Olympic Committee assessed the Parisian bid for the 2012 summer games. ... The action saw the capital's commuter trains and metro badly hit, while across France, 55 cities suffered varying degrees of disruption and air traffic was also affected. Calais was closed to ferries.
* Did the trick nicely.
FRENCH STRIKE HITS DOVER SERVICES
March 22, 2005 (BBC) - Riot police used tear gas to disperse striking French seamen at the approach to the Channel Tunnel on Tuesday. ... The seamen are protesting against a plan to reform the French national register for shipping, with sailors' unions saying the changes are a threat to French jobs.
------------------------------------------------------
MAI
In May, secular France turned out for the Holy Ghost and struck to preserve the Christian holiday, Whit Monday.
FRENCH UNIONS STRIKE OVER HOLIDAY
May 16, 2005 (BBC) - Millions of French workers are staying at home for the traditional Pentecost holiday, despite the government's decision to cancel it. ... Disgruntled trade unions are holding strikes across the country. ... Public transport came to a standstill in nearly 100 towns and cities and many municipal offices were closed.
------------------------------------------------------------
JUIN
STRIKES CRIPPLE FRENCH RAILWAYS
June 2, 2005 (BBC) - Rail travel across France has been severely disrupted by a strike in protest against the centre-right government's economic policies. ... More than half the train services were cancelled in the Paris area, leaving thousands stranded.
---------------------------------------------------------
SEPTEMBRE
FRENCH HEWLETT-PACKARD EMPLOYEES WALK OFF JOB TO PROTEST CUTS
GRENOBLE, France September 17, 2005 (AP) - Hundreds of Hewlett-Packard employees walked off the job Friday to protest planned job cuts by the U.S. maker of computers and printers. ... Hewlett-Packard Co. said Monday it would cut 5,900 jobs in Europe as part of a global restructuring plan announced in July. HP France -- the French arm of the company -- said that 1,240 of the country's 4,800 jobs would be cut. ... Shares of HP rose 11 cents to $27.98 in early afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
FRENCH FORCES STORM SEIZED SHIP
BASTIA, Corsica September 28, 2005 (AP/CNN) - An elite French police intervention squad shimmying down ropes from helicopters stormed onto a ship Wednesday commandeered by striking unionists in the Mediterranean. Unionists angry over government privatization plans had commandeered the ship on Tuesday... Labor unions are angry over the government's planned sale of ailing ferry operator SNCM [Société Nationale Maritime Corse Méditerranée] to private investment firm Butler Capital Partners, whose officials say that 350-400 jobs might be lost.
--------------------------------------------------------
OCTOBRE
'BLACK TUESDAY' STRIKE IN FRANCE
October 4, 2005 (BBC) - A one-day national strike has caused massive disruption to transport, schools and industry across France. ... [One commuter objected,] "They don't even know why they're protesting with all the strikes they stage."
UNIONS AWAIT REPLY AFTER MORE THAN 1M STRIKE
PARIS October 5, 2005 (Guardian) - French union leaders said yesterday they expected a response within the next few days from employers and the government to grievances including high unemployment and unpopular economic reforms that led to more than 1 million public and private sector workers taking to the streets yesterday in 150 protests nationwide. Public transport was badly hit, up to 400 flights were cancelled and roughly half of all schools were closed. ... Polls showed that nearly three in four French people supported the action.
------------------------------------------------------------
NOVEMBRE
France's state of emergency takes a back seat to the all-important sport of striking:
STRIKE CRIPPLES FRENCH RAILWAYS
November 21, 2005 (BBC) - Unions are striking to protest against any privatisation of the rail network, despite government assurances. ... Transport minister Dominique Perben earlier wrote to unions trying to re-assure them that the national rail network, SNCF [Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français], would not be sold off. "I put in black and white what I have said on several occasions over the last 10 days: there is no plan for the privatisation of SNCF," the minister said. But the Force Ouvriere union, which represents rail workers, said Mr Perben's letter was not enough.
----------------------------------------------------
The spectacular French general strike of May 1968, in which over 10 million people demonstrated both for and against a conflicted laundry list of abstractions and practices -- Soyez Réalistes, Demandez L'Impossible (Be Realistic, Demand The Impossible) being one of the more challenging petitions -- simply fizzled out at the moment when push came to shove. In elections the following month, the Gaullist government, embodying the main complaints of the general strike, returned stronger than before, winning 358 of 487 seats. Satisfied with advertising their dissatisfaction, the disgruntled French apparently could not bear to vote out their disgruntlers.
A recent booklet published by Le Point magazine, reports:
All this has us perplexed. If France is the worker's paradise par excellence, why are the working French in a perpetual state of anxiety about their jobs? Our guess, France's economic circuit of decline: France does not create jobs, the working French insist she preserve extant jobs at all costs, new jobs and replacements become prohibitive and are attrited or outsourced, France does not create jobs...da capo.
The simple truth ignored by French governments and workers alike is that all the nice things French workers enjoy depend on one thing alone: Prosperity. Improsperous France cannot pretend to the largesse of prosperous France.
www.pavefrance.com
JANVIER
SERIES OF PUBLIC SECTOR STRIKES BRINGS MISERY TO FRANCE
PARIS January 19, 2005 (Guardian) - Delayed postal deliveries, cancelled doctors appointments, closed schools and erratic train services - a series of public sector strikes is making life hard in France this week. ... Despite irritation with the industrial action, about 65% of people questioned for a survey in Le Parisien said they sympathised with the decisions by teachers, rail and postal workers, doctors and civil servants to protest at proposed changes to their working conditions.
--------------------------------------------------
FÉVRIER
FRENCH PROTESTS OVER 35-HOUR WEEK
Febuary 6, 2005 (BBC)- Thousands of people have taken part in demonstrations across France against the centre-right government's plan to reform the 35-hour week. ... Police estimated about 300,000 people took part in marches across France. ... Demonstrators have been buoyed by a recent poll showing that at least 69% of the French public supports the current protests.
And protests against education reform.
------------------------------------------------------
MARS
STRIKE 'THREATENS' PARIS OLYMPIC BID*
PARIS March 10, 2005 (Guardian) - A widespread strike in France today brought chaos to public transport and ports, with the one-day action coming as members of the International Olympic Committee assessed the Parisian bid for the 2012 summer games. ... The action saw the capital's commuter trains and metro badly hit, while across France, 55 cities suffered varying degrees of disruption and air traffic was also affected. Calais was closed to ferries.
* Did the trick nicely.
FRENCH STRIKE HITS DOVER SERVICES
March 22, 2005 (BBC) - Riot police used tear gas to disperse striking French seamen at the approach to the Channel Tunnel on Tuesday. ... The seamen are protesting against a plan to reform the French national register for shipping, with sailors' unions saying the changes are a threat to French jobs.
------------------------------------------------------
MAI
In May, secular France turned out for the Holy Ghost and struck to preserve the Christian holiday, Whit Monday.
FRENCH UNIONS STRIKE OVER HOLIDAY
May 16, 2005 (BBC) - Millions of French workers are staying at home for the traditional Pentecost holiday, despite the government's decision to cancel it. ... Disgruntled trade unions are holding strikes across the country. ... Public transport came to a standstill in nearly 100 towns and cities and many municipal offices were closed.
------------------------------------------------------------
JUIN
STRIKES CRIPPLE FRENCH RAILWAYS
June 2, 2005 (BBC) - Rail travel across France has been severely disrupted by a strike in protest against the centre-right government's economic policies. ... More than half the train services were cancelled in the Paris area, leaving thousands stranded.
---------------------------------------------------------
SEPTEMBRE
FRENCH HEWLETT-PACKARD EMPLOYEES WALK OFF JOB TO PROTEST CUTS
GRENOBLE, France September 17, 2005 (AP) - Hundreds of Hewlett-Packard employees walked off the job Friday to protest planned job cuts by the U.S. maker of computers and printers. ... Hewlett-Packard Co. said Monday it would cut 5,900 jobs in Europe as part of a global restructuring plan announced in July. HP France -- the French arm of the company -- said that 1,240 of the country's 4,800 jobs would be cut. ... Shares of HP rose 11 cents to $27.98 in early afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
FRENCH FORCES STORM SEIZED SHIP
BASTIA, Corsica September 28, 2005 (AP/CNN) - An elite French police intervention squad shimmying down ropes from helicopters stormed onto a ship Wednesday commandeered by striking unionists in the Mediterranean. Unionists angry over government privatization plans had commandeered the ship on Tuesday... Labor unions are angry over the government's planned sale of ailing ferry operator SNCM [Société Nationale Maritime Corse Méditerranée] to private investment firm Butler Capital Partners, whose officials say that 350-400 jobs might be lost.
--------------------------------------------------------
OCTOBRE
'BLACK TUESDAY' STRIKE IN FRANCE
October 4, 2005 (BBC) - A one-day national strike has caused massive disruption to transport, schools and industry across France. ... [One commuter objected,] "They don't even know why they're protesting with all the strikes they stage."
UNIONS AWAIT REPLY AFTER MORE THAN 1M STRIKE
PARIS October 5, 2005 (Guardian) - French union leaders said yesterday they expected a response within the next few days from employers and the government to grievances including high unemployment and unpopular economic reforms that led to more than 1 million public and private sector workers taking to the streets yesterday in 150 protests nationwide. Public transport was badly hit, up to 400 flights were cancelled and roughly half of all schools were closed. ... Polls showed that nearly three in four French people supported the action.
------------------------------------------------------------
NOVEMBRE
France's state of emergency takes a back seat to the all-important sport of striking:
STRIKE CRIPPLES FRENCH RAILWAYS
November 21, 2005 (BBC) - Unions are striking to protest against any privatisation of the rail network, despite government assurances. ... Transport minister Dominique Perben earlier wrote to unions trying to re-assure them that the national rail network, SNCF [Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français], would not be sold off. "I put in black and white what I have said on several occasions over the last 10 days: there is no plan for the privatisation of SNCF," the minister said. But the Force Ouvriere union, which represents rail workers, said Mr Perben's letter was not enough.
----------------------------------------------------
The spectacular French general strike of May 1968, in which over 10 million people demonstrated both for and against a conflicted laundry list of abstractions and practices -- Soyez Réalistes, Demandez L'Impossible (Be Realistic, Demand The Impossible) being one of the more challenging petitions -- simply fizzled out at the moment when push came to shove. In elections the following month, the Gaullist government, embodying the main complaints of the general strike, returned stronger than before, winning 358 of 487 seats. Satisfied with advertising their dissatisfaction, the disgruntled French apparently could not bear to vote out their disgruntlers.
A recent booklet published by Le Point magazine, reports:
-------------------------------------------------------
All this has us perplexed. If France is the worker's paradise par excellence, why are the working French in a perpetual state of anxiety about their jobs? Our guess, France's economic circuit of decline: France does not create jobs, the working French insist she preserve extant jobs at all costs, new jobs and replacements become prohibitive and are attrited or outsourced, France does not create jobs...da capo.
The simple truth ignored by French governments and workers alike is that all the nice things French workers enjoy depend on one thing alone: Prosperity. Improsperous France cannot pretend to the largesse of prosperous France.
www.pavefrance.com