'If you want to be heard that's the way it is', Paris commuters say as strikes drag on
Record ID:
1449046
'If you want to be heard that's the way it is', Paris commuters say as strikes drag on
- Title: 'If you want to be heard that's the way it is', Paris commuters say as strikes drag on
- Date: 18th December 2019
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (DECEMBER 18, 2019) (REUTERS) TRAIN ARRIVING AT GARE DU NORD STATION COMMUTERS GETTING OFF TRAIN VARIOUS OF COMMUTERS WALKING ON PLATFORM TRAINS AT STATION EMPTY TRAIN TRACKS SNCF STAFF SPEAKING TO COMMUTERS STATION HALL (SOUNDBITE) (French) COMMUTER WHO LIVES IN THE SUBURBS AND WORKS IN PARIS, MAXIME HOUGUET, SAYING: "When a certain number of people feel like they are about to lose something, it's normal that they defend what they have. So it (the strikes) doesn't shock me." COMMUTERS IN STATION SCREEN SHOWING TRAIN ARRIVALS (SOUNDBITE) (French) COMMUTER, LISE QUICHAUD, SAYING: "It's a bit of an arm wrestle, we'll see who will win. It mustn't impact commuters too much, it would be a pity because that's not the aim. We'll see." COMMUTERS IN STATION HALL (SOUNDBITE) (French) COMMUTER, SIDI, SAYING: "They're right (the strikers), they're right to strike. If you what to be heard that's the way it is. There is no other solution but to strike, that's the way it is." VARIOUS OF COMMUTERS ON TRAIN PLATFORM BRITISH TOURIST, SUSAN, IN TRAIN HALL WITH HER FAMILY WAITING TO TAKE EUROSTAR BACK TO LONDON (SOUNDBITE) (English) 48-YEAR-OLD BRITISH TOURIST FROM HAMPSHIRE, SUSAN MCFARLANE, SAYING: "So, the Louvre, we had booked tickets for time slots. It wasn't open until after 10 o'clock and then half the rooms were closed. at Versailles we had booked to go yesterday but the chateau (castle) was closed to the strikes, people not being able to get there. The upside is that we walked all over Paris by foot, so we've seen it which is great." TRAIN AT PLATFORM
- Embargoed: 1st January 2020 10:32
- Keywords: Pension reform SNCF strikes trains transport
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001BAI6M9Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Commuters in Paris on Wednesday (December 18) said they understood the reasons for the pension strikes as they entered a 14th day with trains and metros still crippled after a day of nationwide protests.
French trade unions failed to achieve the big surge in support they had hoped for in street protests to pressure President Emmanuel Macron to ditch his pension reform, and said there would be no strike truce during Christmas.
About 615,000 people nationwide answered the union leaders' call to march on Tuesday, the interior ministry said, a significant decline since the first big day of action on Dec. 5 which had brought 806,000 onto the street, though numbers were higher in Paris.
French unions oppose Macron's plans to streamline the Byzantine state pension system and prod people to work until 64, instead of the legal retirement age of 62.
Commuters at Gare du Nord train station like Sidi who lives outside of Paris said he supported the employees on strikes.
"They're right (the strikers), they're right to strike. If you what to be heard that's the way it is. There is no other solution but to strike," he said.
Leader of France's hard-line CGT union Philippe Martinez said in a televised interview on BFM TV that he would be attending a meeting with French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Wednesday afternoon, where ministers are due to sit down with trade unions and other labour representatives.
The unions and Macron are each hoping to push the other to back down before Christmas, with the prospect that strikes over the holiday would alienate an increasingly frustrated public.
(Production: Lucien Libert, Thierry Chiarello and Pascale Antonie) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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