France faces further disruption after weekend protests

[Joanne98]

Source: France24

France faces further strikes and protests next week over the government's controversial pension reform after mass demonstrations on Saturday saw police and unions differ widely over turnout.

France is preparing for further protests and industrial action over President Nicolas Sarkozy's planned pension reform in the wake of Saturday’s rallies.

The country’s biggest unions, the CGT, CFDT and FO, are planning a sixth round of nationwide protests on Tuesday, a day before a key Senate vote on the controversial retirement reform. Truck drivers have threatened to block roads from Sunday evening, while refinery strikes have raised the fear of fuel shortages over the week.

Opposition leaders and union workers are hoping the government will back down before adopting the law and hold further debate. “There are days and days of discussion still left in the Senate, now is the moment to say ‘we suspend’ ,” Martine Aubry, head of the opposition Socialist Party, said Saturday.

Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20101017-france-faces-further-disruption-after-weekend-protests-strikes-pension-reform

[onehandle]

1. How un-American. We just lie down and take it. We have rallies and demand to lie down and take it.

The wealthy first, workers second.

It's the American way.

http://www.es.flinders.edu.au/~mattom/science+society/lectures/illustrations/lecture21/frenchrevolution.jpg

[RKP5637]

2. Yep, give everything to the extremely wealthy, give them more, more, more and

they will take care of you. Never unionize, never demand workers rights, how un-American. So many are deluded here and take shit for granted as a way of life now in the US. The generational brainwashing is almost complete. Full majorities by the R's in 2012 would complete the plan.

[txlibdem]

15. I guess I really WAS born on the wrong continent.

I guess I really WAS born on the wrong continent.

Here is a short blurb about the interview salon.com did with the author:

According to Thomas Geoghegan, a labor lawyer in Chicago and author of "Were You Born on the Wrong Continent?: How the European Model Can Help You Get a Life," European social democracy – particularly Germany's – offers some tantalizing solutions to our overworked age. In comparison to the U.S., the Germans live in a socialist idyll. They have six weeks of federally mandated vacation, free university tuition, nursing care, and childcare. In an attempt to make Germany more like the U.S., Angela Merkel has proposed deregulation and tax cuts only to be met with fury on the left. Over multiple trips spanning a decade, Geoghegan decided to investigate how the Germans were living so well, and by extension, what we might be able to learn from them.

Salon spoke to Geoghegan over the phone about Germany's luxurious worker benefits, our own dysfunctional attitudes towards work, and how we can make our lives more like theirs.

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2010/08/25/german_usa_working_life_ext2010

Do yourself a favor and read the interview there.

[Joanne98]

3. France plays down fuel fears ahead of strikes

The French government has sought to calm fears of nationwide petrol and aviation fuel shortages as strikes against pension reform began to bite two days ahead of another wave of mass protests.

Officials tried to head off panic buying of petrol amid the ongoing strikes and protests that saw hundreds of thousands take to the streets for the latest day of action against President Nicolas Sarkozy's key reform on Saturday.

Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau told Europe 1 radio that with 10 out of France's 12 oil refineries shut by strike action, panic buying had led to a 50 per cent jump in petrol sales last week and hundreds of stations running dry.

French Oil Industry Association (UFIP) head Jean-Louis Schilansky said service stations were now being replenished after the government authorised the use of extra-large 44-tonne trucks, usually banned for environmental reasons.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/18/3040626.htm?section=world

[reggie the dog]

4. they can play down fears all they want

i have seen several stations being out of diesel already

corsica ran out of diesel days ago....

i cant wait to see what the high school kids are going to do this week

[Ghost Dog]

5. Ah, yes. What about the islands?

I guess you'll be seeing plenty of mobilized CRS, soon.

[cory777]

6. Truck drivers join French pension protests

Source: BBC

French truck drivers are the latest group of workers to join the strike movement against government plans to reform the state pension system.

They have staged several overnight protests, including a go-slow on motorways near Lille and Paris.

The government wants to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 and the full state pension age from 65 to 67.

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"As long as the government won't budge, we won't budge either," one CGT official told Reuters news agency.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11563423?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

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Activist News - http://activistnews.blogspot.com/

[tomm2thumbs]

7. but they need all that pension money to support rich executive salaries - don't they get it??

if only they wanted 'just cake' - but no, they want yachts, islands, planes, jewels, the whole king's ransom, and the money has to come from somewhere!

[naaman fletcher]

10. Do you really think

That it is feasible to have everyone retire at 60? Don't get me wrong, I agree with you fully about the economic elite, but some things - like only working 25 years when your life is going to be 80, 90, or more, are just not sustainable.

[billlll]

13. on-the-scene french say the econ has enough money

For strike goals

[Hannah Bell]

8. knr

[maryf]

9. Solidarity

it works, K&R

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

11. I love this

I would like to see our seniors out protesting no SS raise this year. We are truly a nation of wimps.

[xchrom]

12. recommend

[Odin2005]

14. Vive la France!!!

[Joe Chi Minh]

16. I think the French regard Sarkozy's plans for their retirement age, as an undeclared civil war.

They like to nip these things in the bud. They can get so ugly, can't they, Mme Guillotine?