Strikes paralyse France
Protests against government plans to reform pensions and education are becoming increasingly militant, writes David Tresilian from Paris
Click to view caption |
Policemen stand in front of rocks that are part of a blockade set up by protesters, mostly truck drivers, outside Marseille, southern France. The truckers' strike is part of a nationwide protest against government plans to reform pensions
|
Nationwide strikes, part of a day of action called by French unions in protest at the government's plans to reform the country's pensions system, brought France to a halt on Tuesday as mostly public-sector workers in the country's railways, airports, hospitals, postal services and tax offices failed to turn up for work.
Workers in the state-controlled telecommunications and media sectors, which include the state telephones monopoly France Télécom as well as Radio France and France Télévision, also went on strike, joined by teachers and other workers in France's state-run education system. There was limited support for the strikes among private-sector workers.
The strikes, part of a third national day of action called by four of France's largest unions -- the CGT (la Confédération générale du travail) FO (Force ouvrière), UNSA (l'Union nationale des syndicats autonomes) and FSU (la Fédération syndicale unitaire) -- protested at the French government's plans to increase the number of years an employee must pay before qualifying for a full pension under the state system. They came on the day that French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin opened debate on the proposals at the French parliament, l'Assemblée nationale.
Strikes over proposed reforms to the pensions system have been exacerbated by protests in the education system at government plans at decentralisation, strongly resisted by teachers.
However, the CFDT (la Confédération française démocratique du travail), one of the largest French unions, has approved the government reform plan.
François Fillon, minister of social affairs and responsible for the proposed reforms, said last week that the government would not withdraw the reforms, adding that he hoped that "things would eventually return to order, that young people would be allowed to take their exams, that people would be allowed to use public transport and that they would not be taken hostage by small groups that did not represent the sentiments of the majority of French people, or even those of a majority of the people they pretend to represent."
The reforms, introduced in February but only now going through parliament, would raise the number of years that a public-sector worker must pay contributions in order to qualify for a full pension from 37.5 to 40 years. Private- sector workers, already having to pay 40 years of contributions and not benefiting from generous state-sector employment protections, showed little support for the strikes.
Tuesday's day of action came following weeks of unrest over the government's pension proposals and previous days of action on 13 May and 3 June. In between, targeted protests have led groups of workers to occupy buildings and facilities across France even in the absence of officially declared strikes, causing unpredictable disruptions to public services and denounced by the authorities as "illegal".
While some lines on the Paris underground and bus services were running normally last week, others were subject to unannounced delays and disruption, bringing misery to commuters. While some schools have been functioning normally, others have been closed, with many hospitals running reduced services.
Though the day of action on 13 May brought between one and two million people onto the streets, the following action held on 3 June saw a marked decline, down to 450,000 protesters according to police estimates and this downward trend continued last Tuesday.
French workers already pay up to half their income in compulsory social security contributions to support France's generous health, education and welfare systems, including the compulsory state-managed pension scheme. Faced with an ageing population and growing demands on the health and pensions system, in order to prevent growing deficits, the government has said it has no choice but either to increase the length of time during which contributions must be paid or the rate of these contributions.
The last time the French government attempted seriously to reform the pensions and social security systems, in 1995 under the Juppé government, a series of strikes paralysed the country, leading to proposals being shelved and the collapse of the government. Memories of these events have dominated current public debate, with both sides vowing not to back down.
However, this time round the government may be in a stronger position, since there appears to be broad consensus that, following years of inaction for fear of protests, something must be done if the system is not to post ever-higher deficits, expected to reach some 40 billion euros in 2020 if reforms are not introduced.
In addition, the present French government, having a majority in both the upper and lower houses of parliament and also controlling the presidency in the shape of centre-right President Jacques Chirac, may well be in a better position politically than was its predecessor in 1995, particularly following last year's spectacular defeat of the socialists at the country's presidential and parliamentary elections.
The so-called "special systems" governing the pensions of groups of state-sector workers, including those working for state railways, the state electricity company EDF and the state bus and transport companies, are not affected by the current reform proposals, still allowing workers in these industries to retire as early as 52.
France's pensions system, one of the achievements of the post-World War II construction of welfare states across Europe, guarantees all workers a pension equal to up to 80 per cent of their income if they pay the full amount in contributions, and it is financed out of a special fund managed by the state that levies a tax on those in employment to pay for the pensions of the retired.
The French government has said that the present reform is designed to guarantee the future of that system and to protect it from being dismantled in favour of the privately managed occupational pensions schemes in place in Anglo-Saxon countries, which depend upon vast pensions funds being invested on the stock markets. However, if and when the markets crash, those without private provision are left with little or nothing to live on.
With disruptions to the country's transport systems continuing last week and threats of teacher boycotts looming ahead, the French government is also investigating emergency provisions to ensure that high school students sit their end-of-year exams, the famous baccalauréat. Attempts at reforming the higher- education system, already overdue, have been indefinitely postponed owing to a wave of strikes and sit-ins at French universities and the abandonment of exams.
