I would suggest that you make a reseration with one of the van shuttle services - now! I understand the yellow shuttle is reliable - also contact your hotel and ask them to reserve for you. probably a credit card will work.

Another subject - is there any word on an Air France strike to add to the maddness. need to leave Paris on the 14th. I'll make a hotel reservation now if there is even a hint of a strike. thanks everyone who is working hard to keep us all informed

Peppermintpatty, about the shuttle ... I arrived at CDG mid-morning on the 18th of October, the day the trains stopped last month. I had a reservation with Yellow Shuttle, so I called their toll-free number on arrival, as instructed when you reserve with them. The line was busy and remained so through about 15 attempts.

I abandoned the shuttle plan and joined a huge queue for a taxi. Much to my surprise, the line moved at a walking pace and I was in a taxi to Gare de l'Est within 10 minutes.

Anselm

Many thanks to all for all the timely information regarding the upcoming strikes. We have decided to cancel. We were due to be in Paris, Adjou and Lyon from 13 Nov-24 Nov. We are too old to deal with this and don't like riding bikes in the cold!
Merci beacoup to all.

Hi sox, don't blame you for that but it's too late for me to pull out, onward and upward. See my post on Paris Day Trips, have changed the itinerary slightly and off to Germany on the 12th to clear away from Paris, back on the 23rd to Paris so hope all is relatively normal by then.
Hats off to Kerouac for posting on my thread or I would not have known and been able to change my train bookings which I have now done.
What an enormous help Fodors website is.
Kerouac, what happens with regards to transport to and from the airports during these strikes?

During the last strike, I think that only the Air France buses were running normally. The RER B from the airport was closed for the entire week. The Roissybus to Opéra did not run for a few days. I would imagine that bus lines 350 (to Gare de l'Est) and 351 (to Nation) were running on a reduced schedule.

I've decided if the RER isn't running I'll take either the AF bus or Roissybus into town then catch a bus to my hotel.

As long as the Musee de l'Orangerie is open, even at reduced hours, I'm there!

We have also decided to forge ahead with our plans (perhaps foolishly but no guarantee Paris will be strike-free next time we can both get away.) Once we find our way to our hotel we are walkable from St. Germain to much of what we'd like to do. Perhaps the strike will force us to not overdo it and to plan a return trip.

We will pack comfortable shoes, warm clothes and plan to walk alot. My 17-year-old will be fine - I will plan to caffeine up as necessary;)

Please continue to keep us posted with ideas for transport and news on museum hours etc.

Can't thank you enough Kerouac for your public servie updates in the English language.

I didn't read the entire thread carefully, but I'm planning a few hours in Paris on Nov. 22 before flying to Athens (on Olympia). Are there issues I should be aware of?

Will the civil servants strike spill over to Nov. 22? I do plan to go to a few museums. Are all museums affected? I'm planning on Jeu de Paume, Musee du Luxembourg and possibly Grand Palais.

I'm flying AA to Paris and Olympic from Paris to Athens. I assume flights will be ok?

Thanks very much.

I can tell that a lot of you are getting really impatient for strike news, but it would be foolish to speculate about the future. My own feeling is that things are looking bad, because the government is using 'Margaret Thatcher' vocabulary rather than admitting that any of the complaints are legitimate. However, I would not take any bets on the outcome. As many of you may have noticed with the election of Sarkozy 6 months ago, it's a whole new ballgame (note that he dropped another 4 points in this week's poll but he is still well above 50% approval).

Meanwhile, the students of 30 French universities are currently on strike. For those who remember May 1968, it is something to watch.

My group (30) is going to forge ahead as well. We have been planning this trip since June and everything is paid for. We are now looking at this trip as a weight loss opportunity. Walk alot, ride bikes and loose weight in the gastronomic capital of the world. Gotta look at the glass half full!

Viva La France!

Mr. Kerauoc,
I am deeply grateful for all your timely responses in this forum as well as others. I would be delighted to take you to dinner if ever you are in Chicago.
Sox

"Meanwhile, the students of 30 French universities are currently on strike."

Cutting off their own noses to spite their faces. How does a student not going to class affect the government?

The government has been making major changes to the university system relating to their autonomy, and it is considered (by those opposing the changes) that the objective is to create universities totally controlled by large corporations and dispensing an education based exclusively on corporate needs.

I am not qualified to say whether or not this is true or whether or not it is good or bad. However, if one looks at from the standpoint of losing one's educational freedom and becoming a company robot to earn as much money as possible, period, then it is not difficult to understand why students are not happy.

At the moment, 10 universities are completely closed down with growing disruptions in numerous other ones.

Kerouac et al--
Are we crazy to try to go to Versailles on Nov 13 departing republique station at 12noon? Would it be possible to get back before the strike starts? ( We are arriving at CDG at 10am.

I would say that as long as you leave Versailles before 8 pm, there shouldn't be a problem. And anyway, night falls at 6 pm at this time of year.

I agree with Kerouac, returning from Versailles to Paris on the 13th shouldn't be a problem. From my experience (8 years in 'la region parisienne') the strike won't start precisely at 8 pm, and at least some trains will continue to run until the system shuts down for the night. The big disruption will start the morning of the 14th ... causing utter misery for families like mine who rely on public transit to get to work and school!

We are going forward with our plans to arrive the morning of the 14th. We have arranged for pickup at the airport and will do our best to enjoy Paris until Nov 24th. My thanks to kerouac on his posts and updates.

kerouac and lafitte

Thanks for your input. Hopefully my two sister who have never been to Europe will be able to enjoy Versailles and Paris (inspite of the strikes.)
Jean

Off to Paris tomorrow luckly just missing the worst of the strike later next week - some times you just "step into it".

any word on Air France strike like in Oct. Going back to US on the 14th evening. Of course when you call AF "all is OK" as you can never get anything close to a real
answer. Don't mind that I would need to stay an extra day but would like to plan just a little.
A big thanks to Kerouac for all of the very up to date info - Merci

And in the Paris suburbs, the low rate is from 22h to 6h. Presumably, suburbanites have to get up earlier to go to work in the big city and they have to go to bed earlier for the same reason.

This is not quite right. You can choose the heures pleines/heures creuses schedule and opt for instance for 1.30 am to 7.30 am plus 12.30 pm to 2.30 pm which is fine for housewifes.
Besides not everybody is on a heures creuses/heures pleines schedule. You need to have a lot of electric appliances to start saving money and to be able to use them during heures creuses.

forgive me for my confusion....i am booked on the premier train from florence to paris the evening of the 20th (arriving morning of the 21st)...does this mean this train will not be running?
my stay is supposed to be from the 21st to the 24th in paris...because of the strike is this a mistake?

Evening !!
We have tickets booked from Lourdes to Geneva on 13 nov !! The last connection departs Lyon at 19.43 !!
Does anybody have any idea if this train is likely to leave 17 mins before the strike begins.
We have been to the station and called the helpline and they assure us the train will depart and will not change our tickets. We have a flight to catch !!! Any ideas on other ways from Lyon if the train don't go ??
Thanks

I am supposed to arrive by Eurostar to PARIS on the 14th; they assure that their train will run ok on the 14th; If so, then i would have to go to Evry, and hvae no idea how I can get there if the trains/metro/buses are not working;
any idea?

(I am trying to cancel everything but that is a few tickets/rooms and it is not easy)

thanks for any help

Trying to get to Versailles anafternoon of 13th and back before the strike at 8pm---could any -body give me directions departing from Republique Station around 12noon?

Thanks to you all so much for strike info.

Jean

I am hearing that the police have laid down their weapons and phones. From what I can make out it a protest about overtime. Is this true?

>> I am hearing that the police have laid down their weapons and phones. From what I can make out it a protest about overtime. Is this true? <<

Yes, although only some <i>officiers</i> (detectives and beyond) are participating.

The Paris metro will definitely be on strike starting on the 14th.

As for the SNCF, it is not currently possible to make any predictions on which trains will be running, so nobody, including the SNCF, can give any reliable information about that. The first predictions will be issued about 48 hours before the strike begins.

Meanwhile, the striking university students blocked some train lines yesterday. All main line traffic in and out of Gare du Nord was stopped for an hour yesterday.

The electricity company (EDF) has announced that there may be some power cuts starting on the 14th.

All I can say is thank goodness we have more sense down here these days and strikes of any kind are so rare that I can't remember when the last one was or what it had to do with. Time the population of France realised that in the end they are only inconveniencing themselves, I assume they do not get paid whilst they are off work. Grow up and get on wth it.

The strikers do get paid for their time off work and the days they get off is only added to their pension!

I dont think that strikes are just a matter of sense. Strikes are very disruptive and obstuctive and destructive but sometimes they may be the only way to get a point across. ( I am not talking about this particular strike.)
be thankful that in NZ you dont have to even consider this form of action and that your govt. listens to its workers. (Again no reference to the Paris strike of which I have no knowledge of the reasons and if there is public sympathy for it.)

Strike days are NOT paid in France. That is a tired old myth. And there is no union fund to help out the striking employees either.

President Sarkozy is getting criticized for refusing to negotiate with the railroad unions. But I think he's right to stand firm. Most French railroad workers are able to retire by their mid-50s (after working 35 years) with full benefits. There is not enough money in their pension fund to cover this, so French taxpayers make up the difference -- even though most taxpayers themselves have to work until age 60 or more, and their own pension funds are running dangerously short of money.

The so-called &quot;special regime&quot; for railroad workers dates from the days when they had to shovel coal and do other dirty, dangerous work. I'm sure their jobs aren't easy, but lots of people have difficult jobs and don't get the sweet retirement deal they have.

Sarkozy wants to make the railroad workers pay into the system for 40 years before retiring, which is the minimum for most French people. The railroad unions have argued that the government should level the playing field by letting everybody else retire after 35 years, too. Great.... and who's going to pay for THAT?

I'm generally sympathetic to unions, but their behavior in this case is truly shameful.

&quot;Strike days are NOT paid in France&quot;.


The first thing the unions do before reaching an agreement is demand that strike days be paid !


&quot;And there is no union fund to help out the striking employees either&quot;.
Officially no... :-)

This was not a thread for a political debate, but I would like to point out a few details.

Civil servants (including SNCF) have been able to retire after 37 1/2 years of work (not 35) while the private sector must now work 40 years. Obviously, this is not normal.

However,
1. Civil servants pay a higher percentage of their salary into retirement funds.
2. During their entire career, their salary is on average lower than in the private sector.
3. Their pensions are lower than in the private sector.
(I read all of this in Le Figaro, not in a left-leaning newspaper.)

If &quot;fairness&quot; is the driving force in the change, I would think that the government would immediately reassure the public sector workers that they will no longer pay as much into retirement funds and that their salaries and pensions will be raised considerably.

Naturally, this would require an increase of SNCF fares, for example, and therefore reduced disposable income for all of the rest of us.

However, the government seems to have decided that it will do none of this, and has set itself up for a very motivated strike.

If you wish to debate this, please take it to the lounge. I have just been trying to give strike information, not to criticize or analyze the situation. However, I will gladly shut up and keep all of the news to myself if the thread is polluted with backseat political chatter.

Hey everyone. First off, kerouac, thanks very much for your informed and even-keeled updates on the strike for those of us who aren't &quot;French&quot; literate.
With that said, I am a first time visitor to France, and have made plans to be there November 17-24. We are planning to stay in a suburb outside of Paris and commute in by train each day. From what I have gathered, this will most likely be impossible.
What alternatives might I be able to approach the trip with rather than canceling it all together? There are three of us who are very excited for our first visit. Any ideas would be most helpful. Thanks again . . .

Kerouac :

SNCF people are not &quot;fonctionnaires&quot; (civil servants). Their retirement pension is calculated on the last 20 years (normally the highest paid) whereas it is calculated on the last 10 years in the private sector. They may be pay less but they have a secure job (who has heard of a SNCF employee being fired??). They do not pay train tickets so do their wifes and children until 18. They are guaranteed yearly increases.
They retire at 55 (65 in the private sector). They do not pay medical bills if they go to an SNCF doctor.
I think it is only fair they should pay more for their retirement pension considering that they work 10 years less than people employed in the private sector.

Kerouac,
Please keep giving us your information. My sister-in-law is flying to Paris on Sunday evening for five days. All your info much appreciated.
Merci!

kerouac

An English chap in my office suggested that we use rental cars if need be on our trip to Paris 11/16~11/24. The worst traffic I have driven in is LA and Atlanta. Alot of people in our group are fluent in French so getting a car and directions should not be a huge problem.

opinion please

Please keep us posted on strike information.
Sox

Pvoyageuse, I don't know what planet you are living on.

In the private sector in France, retirement pensions are calculated on your 25 highest earning years of salary. In the public sector, retirement pensions are calculated on your last six months of salary.

The average retirement age in France is 58 for the private sector and 57 1/2 for the public sector. Who is working 10 years more?