Thousands of public sector workers go on strike across France
Thousands of train
drivers, teachers, nurses, air traffic controllers and other public sector
staff have gone on strike across France and begun
street protests against Emmanuel Macron’s
latest reform drive. France’s centrist
president, who has been in power for nearly a year, has so far escaped large
strikes and trade union action, managing to easily push through an overhaul
of labour laws in the autumn despite limited
street marches.
But Thursday’s strike
marks a new joint phase in trade union action – it is the first protest against
Macron that has brought together civil servants and railway staff. The strikes will see
train cancellations, some schools closed, about 30% of Paris flights cancelled,
airport disruption in the south and some 150 protest marches across the
countries. There are two
different sets of grievances behind the strike day – both of which have the
potential to cause a headache for the French government.
France’s large public
sector, which has 5.4 million state workers, is up in arms about Macron’s
belt-tightening plans, with unions accusing him of seeking to dismantle the
state sector. There has been rising anger among public sector staff that Macron
has gone back on his campaign promises for better recognition and remuneration
and in fact seeks to slash budgets, rely more on contract workers, introduce
merit-based pay and voluntary redundancies to cut the number of public workers
by 120,000 over five years.
“Discontent and worry
are spreading very quickly,” said Jean-Marc Canon of UGFF-CGT, one of the
largest civil servants’ unions. Meanwhile, rail
workers will use Thursday as the start of prolonged strike action that could
last until June. They are protesting against Macron’s plans
to push through sweeping reforms to France’s vast state rail system,
including cutting costs by limiting special employment rights for rail-workers.
From 3 April until 28 June, rail unions have planned strikes on two days out of
every five.. read more:
