Mass Transportation And Workers Strikes Hit France
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/4384543/France-hit-by-national-strike-on-Black-Thursday.html
France hit by national strike on 'Black Thursday'
France woke up to a day of nationwide strikes in both the public and private sector on what has been billed as 'Black Thursday'
By Henry Samuel in Paris
Last Updated: 3:01PM GMT 29 Jan 2009
(If you go to the websites of the articles, the photos belie the reporting.)
However, disruption to transport networks appeared to less than expected.
Hundreds of thousands of workers are expected at more than 200 rallies to call on President Nicolas Sarkozy to do more to protect jobs and wages.
Three-quarters of people and all the main trade unions support the day of industrial action.
The protesters are demonstrating against the worsening economic climate and rising unemployment in France and at what they believe to be the government's poor handling of the crisis.
The main bulk of protesters will come from across the public sector, from postal workers to court officials and a huge contingent of teachers marching against Mr Sarkozy's plan not to replace 13,500 jobs in education this year when staff retire or quit the profession.
But employees from the private sector, from car plant workers but also helicopter pilots, supermarket cashiers and even ski lift operators, will also take part.
All major cities were experiencing transport delays, but slightly less than expected, particularly in Paris.
A third of flights from Paris's Orly airport have been cancelled, with the remaining flights experiencing delays of around an hour. Around one in ten flights from Roissy Charles de Gaulle have been cancelled and there are 30-minute delays on departures.
More than 60 per cent of national TGV trains are expected to function, and the London-to-Paris Eurostar service is running normally. Three quarters of metro trains were running this morning, but suburban services were harder hit.
The main unions are demonstrating to protect French purchasing power and jobs and against workers taking the brunt of the financial crisis. They want Mr Sarkozy, who has already announced a 26 billion euro (£24 billion) economic recovery plan with an emphasis on investment, to boost consumption.
The president has promised to "listen" to people's concerns but to push on with his reform programme and not to change it under the influence of "those who shout loudest".
Mr Sarkozy enraged unions last year by jokin: "Now when France goes on strike, nobody notices."
Bernard Thibault, head of the powerful CGT union, said that this time Mr Sarkozy could not say: "I saw nothing, I heard nothing and I will say nothing."
However, the unions are divided as to whether to call other stoppages in the coming days or weeks.
Meanwhile, Eric Woerth, the budget minister, said that strikes were the last thing France needed right now.
"There are other ways to make oneself heard than striking," he said.
"Blocking a country, preventing transport from working, bothering people when they are still extraordinarily worried and fearful of the future, is adding fear on top of fear, worry on top of worry."
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7857435.stm
Huge crowds join French strikes
Huge crowds have taken to the streets in France to protest over the handling of the economic crisis, causing disruption to rail and air services.
The head of France's biggest union said a million workers had rallied to demand action to protect jobs and wages.
But despite the show of public support, the strike appeared to be falling short of the paralysis forecast by unions.
Regional trains and those in and around Paris were hit, and a third of flights from Orly airport were cancelled.
Forty per cent of regional services were running, train operator SNCF said, and 60% of high-speed TGV services. Three-quarters of metro trains were running in Paris.
Paris's second airport was heavily hit by the strike, but flights out of the larger Charles de Gaulle hub were experiencing only short delays, AFP news agency said.
Schools, banks, hospitals, post offices and courts were also hit as workers stayed at home. Officials said just over a third of teachers and a quarter of postal and power company workers were on strike.
Overall, some 23% of the country's public sector workers are thought to have joined the action, which was called by eight major French unions.
Bernard Thibault, head of the CGT union, told AFP more than a million workers had taken part in the strike, making it impossible for French President Nicolas Sarkozy to ignore their concerns.
In Paris, police said some 65,000 protesters had joined a march from the Place de la Bastille towards the centre of the city.
Earlier, some 25,000 to 30,000 people rallied in the city of Lyon, according to organisers and police.
In Marseille, organisers and the authorities disagreed, with the former putting the number of demonstrators at 300,000 but the police estimating 20,000 had taken part.
The protests are against the worsening economic climate in France and at what people believe to be the government's poor handling of the crisis.
Opposition Socialist Party leader, Martine Aubry, said people were out in the streets "to express what worries them: the fact that they work and yet cannot make ends meet, retired people who just can't make it [financially], the fear of redundancies, and a president of the Republic and a government that just don't want to change policy".
According to a 25 January poll by CSA-Opinion for Le Parisien, 69% of the French public backs the strike.
"I'm tired and frozen after waiting half-an-hour on the platform," commuter Sandrine Dermont told AFP as she arrived by train in Paris.
"But I'm prepared to accept that when it's a movement to defend our spending power and jobs. I'll join the street protests during my lunch break," she said.
Hit hard
Last summer, Mr Sarkozy boasted that these days when there is a strike in France, nobody notices, says the BBC's Emma-Jane Kirby in Paris.
But this time, our correspondent adds, the strike will hit hard.
Many people are angry French banks were given a multi-billion euro bail-out while floundering industries and businesses were offered far less help.
With unemployment looking likely to hit 10% by next year, the French are now looking for assurances from their president that he will drop his programme of cost cutting reforms and instead turn his attention to relaunching the ailing economy, our correspondent says.
"We want to show how the people are dissatisfied with the situation at the moment," Thierry Dedieu of the CFDT general workers' union told the BBC.
People had the feeling they were paying for a crisis they were not responsible for, he added.
But earlier in the week, French Finance Minister Eric Woerth condemned the strike organisers, accusing them of scare-mongering during a time of economic uncertainty.
"There are other ways to make oneself heard than striking," he said.
"Blocking a country, preventing transport from working, bothering people when they are still extraordinarily worried and fearful of the future, is adding fear on top of fear, worry on top of worry."
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Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7857435.stm
Published: 2009/01/29 15:31:28 GMT
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France hit by mass job protests
More than one million people are estimated to have protested across France on Tuesday against the government's youth employment laws.
Fighting broke out as protesters gathered in Paris, and missiles were hurled at police as they moved into the crowds to try to remove troublemakers.
Tear gas and water cannon were used to disperse the protesters, and by late evening just a small group remained.
A nationwide strike has also caused travel chaos throughout the country.
Arrest orders
The BBC's Jon Sopel in Paris said the protest had been initially mainly peaceful, but the mood had then deteriorated.
As the trouble erupted in the Place de la Republique in north-east Paris, our correspondent said his BBC crew had also come under attack, although he added the violence had remained "low-level".
The BBC's Emma Jane Kirby, also in the French capital, said that despite the trouble, the majority of protesters had been marching peacefully.
Extra riot police were deployed before the march, after a rally in Paris last week led to running battles.
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told them to only get tough with those he called delinquents.
"My first instruction is that you protect the demonstrators, especially the youngest ones," he said.
"The second instruction is to arrest as many thugs, that means delinquents, as you can."
Mr Sarkozy himself appeared in the Place de la Republique on Tuesday evening, where he congratulated police for their work during hours of sporadic violence.
Correspondents reported a greater sense of calm there, albeit with hundreds of riot police in attendance.
And by 2130 GMT, the majority of protesters had left the square, with only a small hard core of demonstrators reported to be remaining.
Earlier the police used tear gas and water cannon to try to disperse the troublemakers.
Meanwhile workers and students in more than 100 other towns and cities were calling for the government to scrap the controversial employment contracts.
Police estimated that just over one million people had taken to the streets across the country.
They made almost 800 arrests around the country - nearly 500 of them in Paris, the National Police Chief Michel Gaudin told The Associated Press.
Unions said up to 250,000 people turned out for a march in Marseille - many more than at the previous worker-student demonstrations on 18 March - although the police put the figure at 28,000.
In the western city of Nantes, police put the figure at 42,000, more than double the 18 March turnout. Le Mans, Rouen and Tours also reported increased crowds.
"We are here for our children. We are very worried about what will happen to them," said Philippe Decrulle, a demonstrator in Paris.
"My son is 23, and he has no job. That is normal in France," he told the Associated Press news agency.
Strike bites
Meanwhile a nationwide strike closed large parts of France's transport networks.
As transport workers joined the strike, commuters were left battling with widespread disruption as large parts of the country's rail, bus and air networks came to a halt.
Airport authorities warned of delays and cancellations and urged passengers to check with their airlines.
Schools, post-offices, banks, government offices and unemployment bureaux are also experiencing serious disruption.
Protesters are bitterly opposed to the First Employment Contract (CPE), which allows employers to end job contracts for under-26s at any time during a two-year trial period without having to offer an explanation.
The government says it will encourage employers to hire young people but students fear it will erode job stability in a country where more than 20% of 18-to-25-year-olds are unemployed - more than twice the national average.
The BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Paris says these latest demonstrations are a real test of the Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's resolve, and it is hard to see how he can break the stalemate.
To find a solution without losing face - or ground to his main rival for the presidency, Mr Sarkozy - is proving the biggest challenge of Mr de Villepin's political career, our correspondent adds.
Mr Sarkozy's ruling UMP parliamentary group on Tuesday backed his proposal that the government not rush to enforce the labour laws, instead leaving the door open for further negotiations.
Earlier on Tuesday Mr de Villepin told parliament he was open to talks on employment and possible changes to the contracts, but he did not say he would withdraw them.
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