The BBC has a report on strikes in France that are disrupting rail travel and may affect other public services.
France's rail network has been severely disrupted, as a wave of strikes against President Emmanuel Macron's labour reforms gets under way.
The start of the strike has been dubbed "Black Tuesday", but the action will spread over three months, affecting two days in every five.
Staff at state railway SNCF are leading the strike, but the energy and waste collection sectors are also affected.
The unrest presents Mr Macron's biggest challenge since his election last May.
The unions say some of the plans to overhaul the heavily indebted SNCF would pave the way for its privatisation.
But Prime Minister Édouard Philippe denied this, saying the proposals aim to change the status quo that was "no longer tenable".
In parliament, he added: "If the strikers are to be respected, the millions of French people who want to go to work, because they have no choice, because they want to go to work, must also be respected."
I won’t pretend a great deal of knowledge about French politics, but there are several things of interest in the report:
...Just over 11% of the French workforce is unionised - one of the lowest levels in the EU - but the unions traditionally punch above their weight, economically and politically.
...Mr Macron's Republic On The Move party also feels the strike has wider connotations. "We need to rid this country of its strike culture," spokesman Gabriel Attal said.
Somehow, labor ‘reform’ always seems to be about cutting wages, cutting benefits, and making it easier to hire and fire workers. You seldom hear about salary increases or better benefit packages. The French and others in Europe seem to be very aware of inequality as an issue — and they don’t necessarily regard unions as outmoded or a bad thing. They know what class war is.
In America, where our media is dominated by a handful of corporations, coverage of labor issues never seems to get much beyond unemployment numbers. There are plenty of stories about “lean and mean” companies”, productivity, off-shoring, downsizing, doing more with less, etc. There’s not a lot about labor actions, other than that “it makes us less competitive”, will “hurt consumers with higher prices”, etc.
Defined benefit pensions are a thing of the past, not least because raiding pension funds is one of the first targets in a merger/acquisition, if the companies involved even funded them in the first place. Then there’s gig economy where workers give up pensions and benefits — but gain ‘flexibility’ and the right to ‘be their own bosses’.
It’s also remarkable that every time an industry gets in trouble and needs to be bailed out, somehow it’s always the work force that has to make the sacrifices. Shareholders? Banks holding loans? Top management? Puh-leeze. How come you seldom hear politicians running on business reform?
Take the attacks on public education in the US. It’s being framed as innovation to allow charter schools to come in and make education into a profit center. But — it’s also about destroying the power of teacher unions as a political force, and labor in general. Well, teachers are starting to decide enough is enough. It‘s not just about pay — it’s about giving them the resources they need to do their jobs.
Back to France for moment, there’s the point that the strikes by rail workers are affecting millions because they have a decent rail transport system used by millions. It might be one reason why transit in America sucks. It is not just because of the fossil fuel lobby or the highway lobby, but also the anti-union movement. They’re not going to encourage public investment in anything that comes with unionized employees. It’s another motive behind privatization — it’s not just about the money they hope to get; it’s about destroying the power of labor too.
So, have you heard anything about the strikes in France? How about media coverage of the teachers in this country — or labor issues in general?