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Strikes test Sarkozy's nerve
20/11/2007 12:04 - (SA)
Paris - Hundreds of thousands of French civil servants and students went on strike on Tuesday, joining a week-long stoppage by transport workers and ramping up the pressure on French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
State employees, including teachers, postal workers and air traffic controllers, launched their one-day strike in support of demands for pay increases and an end to job cuts.
Their scheduled action coincided with the seventh straight day of a nationwide transport strike that has disrupted rail services across France and left Paris commuters with a daily battle to get to and from work.
In addition the government faces a campaign by students against a law that allows universities to raise money from private sources, and by magistrates against the closure of local courts.
The cumulative effect of the various protests has left Sarkozy facing one of his biggest tests since taking office in May.
The transport strike was called because of plans to overhaul the "special" pensions systems enjoyed by 500 000 workers mainly in the rail and energy sectors. These allow workers to retire two and a half years earlier than the rest of the population, and Sarkozy has promised to end that.
Hopes have been raised
As well as the social disruption caused by the strike, there has been a damaging economic cost which Finance Minister Christine Lagarde put at between €300m and €400m a day.
Independent retail outlets have been among the hardest hit. Their drop in revenues of up to 50% is on a scale "not seen since May '68" when strikes and student protests swept through France, said Charles Mercer, president of the national clothing federation.
Still hopes have been raised of a possible resolution after unions said they would attend talks on Wednesday.
The government had previously said it would only enter negotiations once the strike was finished, but on Sunday Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand said it would attend Wednesday's talks if there was "a back-to-work dynamic".
The president's adviser on social affairs Raymond Soubie said he was hopeful the transport strike could be defused by mid-week, when the talks are due to start.
"I am reasonably positive we can reach a positive outcome, in other words a progressive return to work.... Evidently there are many fewer strikers, as they are a minority now," Soubie said on Monday.
The government has insisted it will not yield on the central point of the pensions reform, but it has suggested pay rises and other inducements. The management of SNCF has offered unions a financial package worth more than €90m a year to accept the change.
- AFP
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