Oy. Another week, another strike. The fight against reform of the French retirement system continues even though the bill itself is working its way steadily through the legislative process. Public transport is once again predicted to be a mess today, and 30 to 50 percent of flights from CDG and Orly are cancelled. Moreover, the unions are calling for a renewable strike, one that can be extended each evening for the next day, depending upon their judgment about how effective their tactics are being in changing public opinion and ultimately the action of the government. Large numbers of the French people (almost 70 percent) say that they are in favor of the actions of the strikers although the numbers are expected to weaken if a strike endures.
Sorry about the quality of the photo; I caught this shot on the back of an electricity panel and apparently the glue made the poster wrinkle.
4 comments:
Just this weekend I was with my in-laws and my sister-in-law said, in reference to the reform, "your generation will have to work until you're 72!" - The fact is, France retires earlier than most EU countries and I think it speaks to their attachments to tradition and inability to accept change. I'm not saying that for boulangers that began working at 15 that the increase is fair - and they'll likely be able to retire after their 42 years of work - but it's the overall notion that because a law/policy is entrenched in society for x number of years, that it should never change.
Fact it, my generation needs to have a backup plan for retirement because that money aint gonna come from the government, much like in the U.S.
RE the foiled travel as a result of the strikes - the only thing I can say is at LEAST the metro runs efficiently, even with 3 out of 4 trains.
This isn't just a "france" problem it's all over europe ...someone has to pay for all the benefits people feel they are entitled to...wouldn't we all love to retire at 60!....it's a mess for sure.
Alls I know is that the only retiring I'll be doing anytime soon is for the evening.
It hasn't been all that long since France lowered the retirement age. It used to be 65 like most of the rest of Europe. How soon they forget. So now, if Sarkozy et al. hold fast, French folk will retire three years before other Europeans. And as Paris Paul implied, for those of us who cannot contemplate retiring even at 65, it's kind of difficult to feel much sympathy.
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