- Title: FRANCE: Country braced for strikes as union and government showdown looms
- Date: 12th October 2010
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (SEPTEMBER 23, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF COMMUTER ROLLER-BLADING TO WORK IN BUS LANE DURING PREVIOUS ROUND OF STRIKES ON SEPTEMBER 23 VARIOUS OF TRAIN STATIONS WITH EMPTY PLATFORMS DURING LAST STRIKES PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 11, 2010) (REUTERS) PIERRE BRIANCON, COMMENTATOR AND ANALYST WITH REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PIERRE BRIANCON, C
- Embargoed: 27th October 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: France
- Country: France
- Topics: Employment,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVABU3F3NET1NU8R5Z6GHH6S6VN6
- Story Text: France was braced for major rolling strikes and stoppages on Monday (October 11) that are expected to clog the streets with traffic and affect nearly all forms of transport in the country on Tuesday (October 12), as unions raise the stakes in their stand-off with the government of President Nicolas Sarkozy over pension reform.
The measure is currently being ratified in the senate, and a key provision raising the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 was passed late on Friday (October 8), much to the annoyance of unions, who say the reform is unjust and have thrown all their effort into stopping it going through.
The key difference with the dispute on Tuesday (October 12) is that rail and public transport unions have called for rolling strikes, not simply a one-day stoppage. If their call is heeded, that could spell days, if not weeks of misery for millions of commuters, who face cuts in services of up to 40 percent or more.
Unions hope that the stoppages, combined with pressure from the street of more than 230 demonstrations involving up to three million people could force the government to back away from the reforms -- as it did from controversial deficit cuts in 1995 and measures to free up the labour market in 2006.
The government says it will stand firm and that the pension reform is urgently needed to bail out one of Europe's most generous systems which will otherwise go bankrupt.
But despite the threat of strikes, demonstrations and disruptions, many analysts say the government's measures stand a good chance of being carried out.
Most of the key elements of the bill have been voted into law and while a final ratification in parliament is still several weeks away, they say pressure from the streets is unlikely to yield much.
"There's a big difference between the last round of strikes and demonstrations and this one is that now the law has been passed by parliament," said Pierre Briancon, an analyst and commentator with Reuters Breakingviews.
"So as much as it is easy for government to compromise on some aspects of the laws, sometimes fundamental aspects of its plans, now that the law is the law of the republic, its not something that can be negotiated in backroom deals with unions."
But that hasn't stopped unions from trying to build support for the action. Labour officials and left-wing politicians were out late last week sticking up posters and leafleting, calling for an all-out effort for what is a general strike in all but name.
"From the moment that you have rail workers who are going on strike and one gets the sense that the young people are joining the movement, it's beginning to feel like 1995 when they defeated the cutbacks of (then prime minister Alain) Juppe. It also smacks of the demise of plans for a youth contract in 2006," said Olivier Besancenot, head of the New Anticapitalist Party, late last week.
The pension reform has triggered four waves of protests so far. The latest took place on October 2 and mobilised 2.9 million people according to unions and 900,000 according to police. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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