Showdown: Unions Work to Shut Down France in Pension Battle
- Posted on October 12, 2010 at 7:18am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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PARIS (AP) — Teachers, mail carriers, bus drivers and other French workers try to shut down France in a showdown with President Nicolas Sarkozy over his government’s attempt to raise the retirement age by two years to save money.
The battle over the contested retirement reform has gone on for months, but this week could prove decisive. With the Senate expected to pass the pension reform bill by the end of the week, some unions have upped the ante by declaring open-ended strikes, meaning the walkout that begin on Tuesday could last for days or even weeks. Past walkouts lasted only one day.
Train drivers launched an open-ended strike Monday night, and the work stoppages widened to other sectors on Tuesday. High school students were also joining the fray, with walkouts expected at hundreds of schools Tuesday.
More than 200 street protests were planned throughout the country. Last month, similar demonstrations brought 1 million people onto the streets, according to police estimates, though union organizers insisted turnout was three times as high.
The left-leaning Liberation newspaper ran a headline reading “What if the strike lasted?,” while the conservative Le Figaro ran a story about how strikes at French oil refineries could lead to shortages by the week’s end on its front page.
Workers at France’s largest refinery overwhelmingly voted to join the strike, bringing the plant to a near standstill. Production Tuesday at Total SA’s Gonfreville-l’Orcher refinery in Normandy was “minimal,” and no fuel would enter or leave the refinery until further notice, a union spokesman at the plant said.
With service on suburban trains and the Paris Metro and bus lines slashed by about half, commuters rolled into work on bikes, rollerblades and skateboards. The French capital’s free bike racks were empty as many took advantage of the brisk, sunny morning to cycle to work.
Because strikes are frequent in France, commuters have become experts at dealing with transit issues and travelers at Europe’s largest train station, Paris’ Gare du Nord, appeared to be taking the latest walkout in stride.
“I understand the strikers, I tolerate it,” said Fuad Fazlic, 38, a tailor at French luxury label Chanel, as he rolled his ten-speed bicycle out of the Gare du Nord on his way to work. Fazlic said the strike hadn’t disturbed his morning commute by train from Senlis, a town north of the capital, and with his bike to get around Paris, he wasn‘t worried about slowdowns on the capital’s buses and subways.
Fazlic said he’d learned his lesson after massive strikes in 1995 brought much of France to a standstill for about two months. “I have been biking to work ever since,” Fazlic said.
Emmanuel Difom, 40, said he’d had no trouble catching a train from the Charles de Gaulle airport to central Paris. But Difom, an accountant who’d flown in Tuesday morning from Cameroon, said he was “very worried” about making the next leg of his journey, by train to Strasbourg.
Both Paris’ main airports, Charles de Gaulle and Orly, had announced massive cancellations for Tuesday and urged travelers to check with airlines on their flights’ status.
President Sarkozy’s conservative allies insist there is no choice but to buckle down and accept the reform. Faced with huge budget deficits and sluggish growth, France must get its finances in better order, the insist. Even with the two-year change France would still have among the lowest retirement ages in the developed world.
Unions fear the erosion of the cherished workplace benefit, and say the cost-cutting ax is coming down too hard on workers.
Outside Paris’ baricaded Lycee Lamartine high school, striking students said they also opposed the government’s retirement reform.
“It’s about us, it’s about the youth. We don’t want to pay for the crisis and to pay for the actions of the big international ratings agencies,” said Victor Grezes, a member of the UNL national union of students.
Sarkozy’s government has backed down from at least two reforms planned in education, opting not to incur students’ wrath. Potent student-labor coalitions have brought down many planned government reforms over the years in France.
The Education Ministry predicted Monday that more than one in four elementary and pre-kindergarten teachers would stay home Tuesday, though one union representing those teachers countered that nearly half would.
Sarkozy’s government is all but staking its chances for victory in presidential and legislative elections in 2012 on the pension reform, which the president has called the last major goal of his term. France’s European Union partners are keeping watch, as they face their own budget cutbacks and debt woes.
The new nationwide strikes was the fifth since May, including two last month that coincided with protest marches that drew at least 1 million people into the streets.
The lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, approved the reform last month. The Senate has approved the article on raising the retirement age from 60 to 62, but is still debating the overall reform. The bill also raises the age of eligibility for a full pension from 65 to 67.
Sarkozy, in a small concession Thursday, offered to allow women born before 1956 and who had more than three children to receive full pensions at 65.
That apparently did little to stem the strike plans.
—
Associated Press writers Jean-Marie Godard and Jamey Keaten and APTN producer Sylvain Plazy in Paris contributed to this report.
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Comments (60)
Armed Patriot
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 11:55amATTENTION ALL UNION MEMBERS!!! A portion of your union dues are put aside into a pollitical fund which you may not agree with the political views of who it is spent on or for what activities. You have a legal right to stop this. If you are a conservative union member and do not agree with your dues undermining you… contact your union… if you dare… and tell them you want to opt out your dues from political use.
Report Post »Masamune
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 11:38amI actually hope Sarkozy wins this. It would be good for someone to curb the power of the unions, no matter where it is in the world.
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 11:35amCommies “rule” the day in France and in many ways, most other Western European countries. If the Muslim extremists don’t blow up the place, LEFTISTS eventually will. As in any entitlement culture, when those entitlements can no longer be sustained, ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE! Wait for it here!
Report Post »Silat
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 10:35amOutlaw the unions and get your Country back.
Unions do nothing but suck the blood out of everything good.
Report Post »bghandlcw
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 10:35amBQI- Love Your Blog and the entire concept! I suggest others check it out-Thanks for posting those links!
Report Post »GoingBeck
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 10:04amUnions = codified extortion.
Report Post »BoilitDown
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 9:55amGovernments trading favors with union leaders increases both of their bases of power and funding. Both have gotten too large and too powerful. This is to the detriment of mankind while robbing us at every step to destoy us. With their resourses they’ve nurtured and increased the population of parasitic entitlement scroungers to pay the union dues thus fueling their machine.
Report Post »This strike in France is just another snapshot of the path of destruction unions leave in their wake. As I have noted before, the number of people calling for unions to be decertified or completely dismantled is growing and news like this seems to prove that logic. I don’t think the movement against unions is increasing fast enough. If the media would do it’s job and tell the truth about the underhanded activities of the unions a lot more people would join in.
TAXLORDCOMETH
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 9:22amI’d like to ask if public unions may violate the equal protection clause. Think about it — your public union neighbor gets to vote for the person that negotiates their labor contract with your money. How’s that for a sweet deal? You, on the other hand, have to fend for yourself at the workplace while listening to the newly installed pol explain why he has to raise your taxes. This clearly gives one sector of society a huge advantage at the voting booth over another.
Man, I wish somebody would file a lawsuit in NJ against the teachers union on the grounds that it is Un-Constitutional. That would set off fireworks.
Report Post »adifftake
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 9:15amWhy doesn’t France as a nation understand the phrase eating your own?
Report Post »senah
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 9:06amLet them strike….then shutdown the companies and fire them all. Re-open and hire without a union.
Report Post »RobR
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 9:04amPay very close attention to this story real America………………this is exactly where we‘ll be in 5 years if we don’t set in motion , the beginning of the end of the Obama Socialist Regime reign of terror in this country . Three weeks and counting…….
Report Post »flagbearer
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 9:01amAmerica’s recovery will be painful for all of us. Tighten the belt, take a deep breath, and vote in November.
Report Post »DagneyT
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 8:45amIf this isn’t a reason to curtail unions in America, I don’t know what is! Thankfully not all of our union members are thugs, but most are patriotic Americans!
Report Post »ThomasUSA
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 8:23amAnd this is what President BO wants to bring upon this nation along with his Progressive/ socialist/ communist supporters. Look at the 10/2 rally and who that represented and what were their important issues. This is a symptom of socialism, communism, statism issue and not unique to unions only.
Report Post »wash1776
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 8:17amThat’s right!Shut down the country because you are all too selfish.
Report Post »M31Sailor
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 1:14pmLook for the Onion label
Report Post »Only1King
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 8:04amI say let them strike. There seems to be plenty of people who actually want to work and need money sitting at home right now. Oh ya and remember you don’t get unemployment when your on strike.
Report Post »I will haqve this showdown with the unions any day of the week
CoFX
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 10:42amI agree – let the unions strike, and offer thier members a chance to cross the picket lines. Find people who want to work. There would be some hard times for a little while without union-provided services, but the free market system would eventually fill in the gaps. Its absolutely rediculous that any industry can be held hostage by unions, but as they grow in power, the worse is going to get.
Report Post »BQI
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 8:02amP.S. to Blaze readers, there are also three (3) videos on the BQI home page that are from U.S. via Europe discussing this very issue.One of the videos explains how America fits into what is happening in Europe.
http://www.blackquillandink.com
Report Post »...............R..U..Kidding...Me
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 8:01amLike I said before. Lets start a non-union Organization. Fees go to getting rid of unions. Unions want to price themselves out of work and the socialist obama supporters keep propping they up. Let unions fail. NJ Governor is doing a good job fighting unions. Lets not stop now. Don’t believe the union redderrick “We‘re from the union and we’re here to help the poor down trodden.” People need to pick themselves up and not wait for wolives in sheep clothing (unions) to tell them what they want to here, like obama. Change. he says. He’ll take from the rich and give to the union so the unions can pass it on to you, NO but to pass on the wealth to other poorer people in africa, hatia, south america, ..etc. Don’t believe unions, work for yourself, keep what you make, give when you want.
Report Post »ToledoTea
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 8:00amAlas for France… will the Reign of Terror never end?
Report Post »WishWeWereFree
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 7:56amWhat a screwed up mess! From all the unions mentioned I wouldn’t be surprised if you have to join a union to go to the john!
Report Post »We need to work toward limiting or eradicating the influence of unions in America, I don’t want to be like France.
unionrockstar
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 8:08amSorry; but we are well on our way.
Report Post »Entitlements always have a bad ending. Charity is wonderful……forced assistance is a cancer.
Don’t believe it? Start a child at age 2 by giving them whatever they ask for; then try to take it away from them at age 5. Watch there reaction closely. Then you can see the results of entitlements
unionrockstar
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 7:55amAaahhhhhh unions;
Report Post »Aren’t they just great? Now they are attempting to organize pot farmers in California. For medicinal use only; mine you. What a great bunch of people; they promise the moon and then give you the shaft. Make sure you pay your union dues so Liberals can stay in power.
Union members are normal individuals just trying to support their families.
Union Leaders are just as corrupt as any other group who has access to other peoples money.
starman70
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 10:05amI agree fully! Union bosses are running a ponzi scheme with members retirement payments and then looking to the taxpayers to bail them out when they fail. The one who really suffer from the union bosses corruption are the workers!
Report Post »RightUnite
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 7:52amComing to a city near you!
Report Post »BQI
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 7:58amAmerica needs to wake-up, ASAP. As everyone knows, things are not going well for unions now that their leader is falling from grace. Barack’s effort to prop up the unions has completely failed. Now they, unions, will become desperate. The money for teachers has run out, no “card check” no cap and trade etc. Desperation is next and with it violence.
Black Conservative blog: http://www.blackquillandink.com
Report Post »printdesignchicago.com
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 7:45amunions destroy all they touch. a great example of something that was intended to be good, becoming bad over time because of the same corrupt entitlement mindset that is destroying america now.
Report Post »walkwithme1966
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 7:57amI actually had to agree with all of you on this one today. I believe the Unions has served their purpose but are so corrupted now and so expensive – retired Union workers have got it made much more than I ever will. I will be working until the day I die. http://wp.me/pYLB7-dA
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 9:39amLawyers, government workers, and politicians should be listed also.
Report Post »RONALDREAGAN1980
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 7:31amIt’s great for all the European countries that the US has footed so much of their defense bill since WWII. They have all these wonderful social services for their people, and our people suck on the dry teat.
Report Post »Independent Tess
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 9:07amYou have a way with words RR1980……and you are right!
Report Post »Freelancer
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 10:23amWelcome to the real world you socialist cheese eating surrender monkeys!!! How does it feel?
Report Post »ILFarmer
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 10:26amwell, most of them over there probably didn’t realize just how much security the US was providing them. so they went down the path of socialism and entitlement and are now eating away at themselves because they never learned to do anything for themselves in the first place.
Report Post »M31Sailor
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 12:51pmMaybe we could strike here and OBummer could bicycle over to europe to trash us
Sailor
Report Post »wingedwolf
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 7:29amSee what happens when you have unions? Just like health insurance, no one holds anyone accountable and costs just keep rising. Then everyone starts puking pablum and whining when they can’t have new toys because instead of funding your pensions the union leaders spent the money in a corrupt manner. You can bet your leaders pensions are funded.
Report Post »MAULEMALL
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 7:55amThey just need to Reagan thier azzez…
Fire them all !!!!!!
Report Post »BQI
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 7:55amWINGEDWOLF you hit the nail on the head. The BQI blog site has three articles discussing how this WILL HAPPEN in America. For all Blaze readers, please note these articles:
http://blackquillandink.com/uspolitics/riots-in-america-not-if-but-when/
http://blackquillandink.com/uspolitics/the-dominos-are-falling-who-will-be-next/
http://blackquillandink.com/uspolitics/inflation-deflation-or-a-really-bad-hangover/
Black Conservative Blog: http://www.blackquillandink.com
Report Post »DrammyCoke
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 8:19amUnions….. they had their day, now they are nothing but a bunch of commies.
Report Post »BQI
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 8:21amWonderful, WINGEDWOLF. Again, you hit the nail on the head.
A must read for all Blaze folks: http://blackquillandink.com/uspolitics/riots-in-america-not-if-but-when/
Black Conservative Blog: http://www.blackquillandink.com
Report Post »BQI
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 8:28amAnother article that explains how President Obama will deal with civil unrest in America when our unions take to the streets can be found at http://blackquillandink.com/category/uspolitics/
The name of the article: “Obama Suspends Civil Liberties”
Report Post »independentvoteril
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 9:14amI would like to point out that these people are striking because they were PROMISED something and NOW they are changing the rules.. I understand WHY they are striking.. I am sure that any of you out there who were say offered a BONUS yearly of X amount of dollars than had your company say we decided that we can’t afford that promise so we are only giving you a bonus every 3 years.. you wouldn’t be happy about it either..anymore than those here are happy when they want to up the retirement age on SS after taking our money under one rule and now want to change it..and they are right.. it’s our government who took the money, made a promise and NOW want to change the rules cause they spent the money that wasn‘t trier’s to touch.. However to shut down the entire country is WRONG and they should have had a NO STRIKE clause in the contracts for things like refineries.. BIG MISTAKE.. France has had a history of shutting down the country.. it doesn’t even bother most citizens anymore they have learned to work around it.. I see their new retirement age is pretty much what we have for SS here in the U.S.A. of course here they want to RAISE that while OUR unions allow people to retire at 55 THINK we MIGHT be looking at the same problem they have in FRANCE?? Only are we smart enough to WORK AROUND IT? Better start thinking about it.. it will happen here there is NO way the TAXPAYERS can continue to hold up the unions who are now in control of our state, local and federal government.. and no way we will put up with it while WE pay into a government program which is MANDATED for non union workers but have to work 12 years AFTER union workers who’s pensions are paid for by taxpayers.. BOTH union and those that pay into SS should have the SAME age for retirement.. and when they do that watch the s*** hit the fan..
Report Post »BQI
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 9:43amINDEPENDENTVOTERIL- that’s it, split the baby right down the middle. The issue here is not broken promises, rather, it is the worker’s desire to have others run their lives. It is called Freedom. If these people had not bought into the concept that government would take care of them and had instead asked for freedom and independence to run their own lives then perhaps this would not be happening. Since coming into office, Obama has done nothing but pass policies and take actions that would have more Americans dependent on government or unions. Sadly, many Americans have bought into this but thank God the majority have not e.g. The Tea Parties
Black Conservative Blog: http://www.blackquillandink.com
Report Post »drbage
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 9:47amThe leaders are on easy street in very many ways and until the rank and file stop living their lives with their eyes wide shut, nothing will change. Just a couple of common sense points for the rank and file to consider regarding the necessary govt bailout of your pension funds:
Report Post »1. The govt does nothing to earn money, so if they bailout the pension funds, it will come from taxes. Since you pay taxes, you will be helping pay for the bailout. Therefore, you will contribute to your pension fund both via the union and via the govt.
2. Many of the unions have taken out loans to contribute to the elections campaign. What do you think they used for collateral to guarantee the loan?
3. Whereas many of the union rank and file pension funds are severely underfunded, the leaders’ funds are all fully funded. Why?
Post-Progressive American
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 10:50amIt is no better here…look at New Jersey. Union leaders opted for teacher lay-offs instead of a one-year pay freeze and 1.5% contribution to health insurance (up from 0%). We puffed up union pesion funds at Government Motors vs. paying the bond holders; we break real estate contracts and renegotiate, penalizing the banks; etc. Because of the WH’s actions, promises and contracts have become meaningless…we have degenerated to payola for the special interests that can provide the most votes.
What do the Unions want? If they keep going, eventually they (the French Government and companies in this case) will declare bankruptcy and cancel (or significantly reduce) all liabilities (like pensions)…the Unions need to be careful what they ask for…they just may get it.
Report Post »Armed Patriot
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 11:15amSocialism has failed everytime it has been tried, Tyranny is a foot, both there and HERE. How is it we can own 61% of GM and Chrysler and then they can contribute large sums of money to the people who not only created their situation but will continue to aid in their demise (DEMS)??? Isnt this taxpayer money going to support dem lawmakers??? How is this legal? The same for the teachers unions that just received a bailout. Money flows from one hand to the other, our money, gets passed between accounts (laundered) then gets passed on to dems political campaigns who voted for the bailout. Throw the dems out it Nov, return to the Constitution, repeal, investigate, imprison and impeach. That is the only way we can return to a Constitutional Republic. American Revoulution v2.0.
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