Just before I left for Paris in July I had been reading "The Sweet Life in Paris' by David Lebovitz. One chapter is devoted to the strikes and titled "Greve Grief".
Some of what he says was really funny, like when he first experienced strikers around his apartment in Bastille, he nearly dove under a table as his apartment started to quiver from the dull thud of thousands of feet heading his way!

Strikes are part of the cultural fabric of Paris and even have a season he says - In early fall, then returning later in May the strikes and les mouvement sociaux begin to erupt on a regular basis.
He mentions a few: The first major all-out 'greve' in November 2007 and Sarko's first major challenge after being elected. To add to the chaos, the students struck at the same time. And so did the teachers and customs officials.
And postal workers and hospital workers and civil servants and tax inspectors. And newspaper and television employees. Many banks shut their doors too, since getting to work was pas possible - Most of Paris was just shut down.

Another was when 10,000 les fumiers took to the streets in protest but there was a decree smoking in restaurants should be banned and it was.

Another hopeful group of strikers were the pesky motor scooter riders protesting against a crackdown on parking and driving on the sidewalks.

Oddly, he says, there was also a fireman's strike where les pompiers de Paris lit dramatic fires as part of their protest.
The police had to come and do battle with the fireman and calm things down.

David says the French shrug off the strikers with pursed lips and a look of resignation, as if to say. "We are French. That's what we do".

Yay, we're #3. I would not have guessed based on what I see around me, I assume there must be a lot of smaller ones aorund the country. Our last two big ones in my city were the garbage collectors. They go out in summer months. Guess what happens?

Kerouac, what's the sense in France about retirement ages and benefits? While I admire the concept, have to wonder about the long terms costs of early retirement. Is it a public sector versus private sector issue?

The retirement issue is obviously a hot one here. And a very complicated one.

France used to have 65 as retirement age, and Mitterrand put it down to 60. So now the government wants to put it back up to at least 62 over the next few years. Specific issues are people who have physically strenuous jobs, who think they should have special preference,(some are more strenuous than others)and people who have already worked a very long time, having started when they were about 15.

While most people are aware that the system has to change, a great number believe that it should be business who pays more, rather than workers.

I should probably shop there before getting in too deep and making too many comments about the rest of Europe, where the retirement age is already higher, and going higher still.

Of course, there is that other little detail called "the financial crisis."

When the government says, "We have to do this or there will be a 200 million euro deficit in the retirement funds in 5 years," people don't forget that when the banks were in trouble due to their own foolishness, something like 200 <b>billion</b> euros were suddenly found in France to bail them out and just one year later, they were giving out 200 <b>million</b> euros in bonuses to the traders again for their wonderful speculation.

So why is 200 million a negligeable amount for banks but a national catastrophe for honest working people?

Kerouac -- do they have 401k savings programs like the US or do they solely rely on government retirement funds? If not, I would be striking, too, although every knows here with losing 30% in our 401k over the past 2 years, we will all be working until we're 80!

Also, does this mean when travelling to France, is Sunday a better arrival date to avoid the strikes? We were there in July when there was the one day strike by the airline workers, but luckily was not impacted.

The retirement funds are all managed through the government. One of the best things about it is that even if you change jobs 25 or more times during your life, you are still building your retirement benefits from the same fund. There are supplementary funds for executives and such, but they are still government controlled.

When Sarkozy first was elected, one of his ideas was to get people to do a 401k deal instead of the traditional funds, but the idea was quickly abandoned after observing his favorite American "model."

There is no specific day to avoid strikes. I think I heard on the evening news that the next strike is set for 23 September.

"One of the best things about it is that even if you change jobs 25 or more times during your life, you are still building your retirement benefits from the same fund."

Not quite. If you quit your job as a civil servant to enter the private sector, you have to "buy" the difference in retirement benefits or lose what you have saved.

Civil servants have different "caisses de retraite" (Préfon and the like). Their retirement pension is based on the last 6 months of activity (where their salary is at the highest) whereas it is calculted on the average of the 25 "best" years of private sector employees.

It is not surprising that more and more people (those who can afford it) resort to saving programs.

People do not retire equally in the land of Liberté, Egalité and Fraternité.

Yes, but transfers are possible. And frankly, people rarely leave the public sector for the private sector. They all know the exact advantages and disadvantages when they enter the workforce (lower salaries for most of your career, but better benefits and an earlier and better retirement -- it's one of the things that Sarkozy is trying to eliminate).

People who can afford to save will always save extra, no surprise there. But many people do not have that option.

People do not retire equally anywhere, but France is one of the better places.

Reminds me of the old English saying - "The French are revolting" !

A difficult pun to explain to non native anglophone speakers.

Peter

"The retirement funds are all managed through the government. One of the best things about it is that even if you change jobs 25 or more times during your life, you are still building your retirement benefits from the same fund."

What a great benefit! I told my husband it will take a CPA to figure out where all our different retirement accounts are and heaven help us if we both die before we retire. No one will know where all the 401k money is.

I keep laughing when I think about last Spring when everyone was dumping on the Greeks for their protests against losing benefits, raising retirement age, etc etc ... "Greek Riots!!" was all that (guess who?) Foxnews and BBC could scream for days... and there were snide remarks about, the rest of Europe doesn't act this way.

Well, guess what? The shoe is pinching in other nations. Watch out for SPain, Italy, Ireland --whose turn is next.

So, actually France is very much like the United States. But French strikes have a flair that make you notice them.>

Complete Bull Crap - when was the last time the U.S. had a national strike where no matter where you were going you could not be sure of public transports not being on strike.

Kerouac you are so so out of touch with America it is pathetic - there is no parallel - French strikes cause great disruptions on public transports - rarely seen in America and i can never think of one.

In this case you are simply whistling Dixie or perhaps just so naive about what happens in your native America.

Triste, really such a clueless post comparing strikes in America with those in France.

Blather = pure blather IMO

PalenQ, I was only referring to the number of working days lost in each country. I know very well how American strikes work with those pathetic little signs and three people picketing out front.

Three people picketing out front. I needed my laugh for the day or the week. So, I guess that in the over 20,000 that were out on strike in my field, there were only three holding pathetic little signs and picketing out front?

And thanks, Tod, for your comments, especially regarding strikes having "seasons" in France. That puts things into perspective. Happy travels!

" but transfers are possible".
Sure, but at a cost. This was my point. After 5 years in the military, my son had to pay an hefty amount to get a transfer (the difference between government vs private sector rate of "cotisation caisse de retraite") or simply lose 5 years of savings. I can't blame Sarkozy for trying to elimnate such discrepancies.

"And frankly, people rarely leave the public sector for the private sector."
Both my husband and my son did, for different reasons. It is not that unusual.

I would like to make a comment about strikes in South Africa compared to strikes in France, and this is a question really as I would love the answer:

We are at this very moment going through strikes on several levels. Firstly the teachers - the end of the year examinations are almost nil and void as the pupils have have no schooling for weeks on end. I can remember this happening just about every year but this time it's the worst loss of school hours ever.

Secondly, the nurses went on strike at hospitals all over the country and they did it in the most brutal fashion - in one instance leaving 25 newborn babies to simply die as they left the building. Where were the mothers? Sometimes they are sent home if the baby is in an incubator for a time, otherwise if the infant has other problems the mothers go to the hospital on a daily basis if they are able to.

Would these awful scenarios happen in France during a long strike?

Guenmai is correct, what is galling about strikes in France is that nobody is there holding signs and marching. The vast majority of strikers simply don't show up and go on vacation. I was in Paris during the strikes of the railway workers a few years ago. Each day you had to go to the RER station and see if there were trains or not. I couldn't get to work for a whole week! During all this time, I didn't see a single worker holding signs, or even posters explaining the reasons for the protest.

Tod, there have been school semesters as good as lost in France every now and then, from primary school to university. I would say that school reforms in France, no matter which faction is in power, are the most difficult to implement.

As for hospitals, even though workers can go on strike, enough employees are always requisitioned for the most important needs. In others words, the nurses will be there for shots and bandages, but you won't see anybody pushing the library cart from room to room.

Just to put this into perspective.

Sure there were cancellations, but notified in advance. My wife took the TGV Nimes - Paris on Tuesday. I dropped her off. The platform was about normal, and the train (originating in Perpignan) about half full.

This was the direct train - now 2hrs 50 mins.

The big union demonstrations in Nimes were cancelled due to bad weather !

Never believe French media.

Peter

Or any other media, for that matter.