FRANCE: Refinery strikers head back to work -- but some wildcat actions continue

Record ID: 340115

  • Title: FRANCE: Refinery strikers head back to work -- but some wildcat actions continue
  • Date: 30th October 2010
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (French) PARIS RESIDENT, CHRISTOPHE SILOHIAN, SAYING: "When I see all these people saying two years is too much I find that absurd."
  • Embargoed: 14th November 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France, France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVABRTW3E0FJLIT7K9SZK5P6RGXT
  • Story Text: Workers at a key Paris refinery got ready to return to work on Friday (October 29) as wildcat strikes continued to hit the south of the country.
    About 300 workers at a supermarket distribution centre in Mille near Aix-en-Provence erected a barricade of burning tyres in protest over controversial refroms to France's pension system.
    "There are demonstrations and strikes, yet laws are still passed without taking into account the message of the street. So today, we're trying to say that for us, the workers, there is no question of giving up. This reform isn't good. And we're going to do everything to stop it being carried though," said a union member protesting outside the distribution centre.
    But at the Grandpuits oil refinery near Paris, a flashpoint that has become a symbol of opposition to pension reform measures, workers told Reuters the current round of strikes could be drawing to close.
    "In all likelihood, we're heading towards an end of the social movement on this question -- at least for the time being," one striker said.
    Government estimates suggested nationwide protest marches on Thursday had mustered about half the number who turned out the last time, the interior ministry putting the final turnout at 560,000, versus 1.1 million on October 19.
    The CGT union said the protests had attracted about 2 million people, down from 3.5 million during the last rally.
    But on the streets of the French capital, support for the strikes appeared reduced on Friday.
    "When I see all these people saying two years is too much, I find that absurd," said Paris resident Christophe Silohian, referring to President Nicolas Sarkozy's bill to raise the minimum and full retirement ages by two years to 62 and 67.
    France's lower house of parliament gave final approval to the measures on Wednesday (October 27), removing the last legislative hurdle to the bill becoming law.
    Sarkozy says the reforms are vital to rein in a ballooning pension shortfall and safeguard the AAA credit rating that lets France service its debt at the lowest market rates.
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