FRANCE: FRANCE FACES A BARRAGE OF STRIKES LIKELY TO BE FELT BEYOND ITS BORDERS, WITH ACTION BY TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS THREATENING INTERNATIONAL AIR TRAVEL

Record ID: 342169

  • Title: FRANCE: FRANCE FACES A BARRAGE OF STRIKES LIKELY TO BE FELT BEYOND ITS BORDERS, WITH ACTION BY TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS THREATENING INTERNATIONAL AIR TRAVEL
  • Date: 17th October 1996
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 17, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV NIGHT VIEW WIDE OF EMPTY TRAIN TRACKS 0.06 2. SV INTERIOR STATION / PEOPLE LOOKING AT SCREENS SCREEN TIMETABLES (4 SHOTS) 0.23 3. SV WOMAN SITTING ON FLOOR WITH BAGS 0.27 4. SCU UNIDENTIFIED MAN TALKING ABOUT THE STRIKE SAYS THEY HAVE TO WAIT ANOTHER SEVEN HOURS (ENGLISH) 0.39 5. SV PEOPLE WAITING 0.42 6. SCU UNIDENTIFIED MAN SAYING THESE STRIKES SHOULD NOT HAPPEN (FRENCH) 0.56 7. SLV EUROSTAR TRAIN ON PLATFORM 1.05 8. SLV PASSENGERS WAITING IN LINE TO BOARD EUROSTAR TRAIN 1.10 9. GV EXT METRO STATION 1.05 10.SLV INT METRO - METRO ARRIVING 1.21 11.SLV PASSENGERS BOARDING METRO (3 SHOTS) 1.13 12. GV EXTERIOR ORLY AIRPORT 1.38 13. GV'S INT AIRPORT / VARIOUS OF PASSENGERS WAITING WITH LUGGAGE (2 SHOTS) 1.52 14. SCU UNIDENTIFIED PASSENGER SAYING WE ARE PUTTING UP WITH A LONG WAIT. WE HAVE TO BE PATIENT (FRENCH) 2.06 15. SV PASSENGERS ASLEEP ON BENCH (2 SHOTS) 2.15 16. SLV SCREENS (2 SHOTS) 2.23 17. GV OF HALL (2 SHOTS) 2.30 18. SCU UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN SAYING FRENCH PEOPLE ARE OFTEN ON STRIKE (ENGLISH) 2.40 19. SLV PASSENGERS QUEUEING 2.46 20. GV BLACK BOARD ANNOUNCING CANCELLATION OF FLIGHTS 2.52 21. GV PLANE ON TARMAC (3 SHOTS) 3.04 22. SCU VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINES 3.13 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 1st November 1996 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • City:
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA5ARDOW12XYZ696PYQ2WY28ABM
  • Story Text: INTRO: A one-day strike has closed public offices, schools and utilities in France in a reminder of last year's crippling wave of unrest.

    A one-day strike against French government austerity policies disrupted trains, buses and flights on Thursday (October 17) in the first big test of union disaffection since a crippling wave of unrest in late 1995.

    The stoppage, spearheaded by five million civil servants protesting at job cuts, forced the closure of public administration offices. Schools, hospitals, the state electricity and gas utility and post offices were also hit.

    Unions were due to hold marches across France during the day in what many unions hoped would be a "Black Thursday" warning to the centre-right government of Prime Minister Alain Juppe.

    About one third of trains were running, according to SNCF state railways, well short of the paralysis during strikes last year. The Channel Tunnel link between Paris and London was unaffected.

    All but two lines of Paris's underground Metro railway were running almost as normal and 75 percent of buses in the capital were unaffected, limiting early morning traffic jams around the city.

    A strike by air traffic controllers and staff at airlines Air France and Air Inter Europe hit flights. Air France was expecting to carry out a third of its flights and Air Inter one in five.

    The civil servants are protesting at government plans to trim their numbers by 6,000 next year as part of a drive to cut the budget deficit and enable France to qualify for a single European currency from 1999.

    Teachers will bear the brunt of the austerity drive, with a loss of 2,300 permanent jobs and the layoff of some 15,000 short-term contract staff.

    Workers punished conservative President Jacques Chirac last year with a 24-day wave of strikes in November and December after he was elected in May 1995 on promises of a war on unemployment and had raised hopes of a miracle cure of tax cuts and wage hikes.


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