Why Strikes in France are so widespread

While a lot is made of the strikes shutting France down during Christmas week, it is interesting to note that it is a reaction to the latest moves by Macron against the working classes. And there are broad swathes of the country not really feeling the strikes at all.

What's Macron up to?
Well, France currently has a complex system of 42 different pension schemes for its private and public sectors, with variations in retirement age and benefits. Mr Macron wants to create a unified system.

Pension benefits are largely calculated using an employee's 25 highest-paid years of work in the private sector, while in the public sector it is based on payments made in the last six months before retirement.

The French president's new plan aims to reward employees for each day worked, earning points that would later be transferred into future pension benefits.

BBC Europe

Here are some points about the latest widely supported strikes (grèves) and protests (manifestations).
- Gillets Jaunes were a reaction to a hike in taxes to diesel (gazole) which disproportionately hit truckers, agriculture/farmers, small businesses, and regular folks needing cars and home heating. This tax hike occurred at the same time fossil fuel industries were being given subsidies and large corporations and wealthy, given tax breaks. It was immediately seen as unfair, and a burden too far.
- Now Macron is trying this move which in an aging population is very present in most French lives.
- For quite awhile Macron has been quickly moving to privatize as much of the public commonwealth as he could: Paris airports; parts of the trains system - high speed trains (TGV) - rail networks (SNCF) - and others. This is a continuation of privatization which has taken place under many administrations. Here is a list by country: go to France to see the companies and systems taken private. Wiki by decade privatization
He essentially said 'if I move quickly enough, I can stay ahead of the public notice and potential outrage against these actions.'
Reuters on privatization
- France has been largely stable economically and a smaller differential between a wealthy class and the average income worker. This has begun to change with austerity; bank bailouts and tax adjustments.
- Until now, the number of individual business owners (auto entrepreneurs, small enterprises and small manufacturing) scattered throughout France has been higher than anything we see in the US. These businesses keep small and rural communities afloat.
- When Sarkozy, raised the retirement age from 60 to 62, whole families from grandmas, down to kids asking 'where their jobs would be?', were in the streets in 2010, shutting down mostly refineries, trains, airports and other means of transportation. The police unions marched with the populace.
- Strikers are usually extremely polite, and will do anything they can to help people inconvenienced by their actions. But they are trying to get the attention of everyone they can.
- Presidents in France are elected for a five year term. For that term they are very king-like in their ability to move the country in specific directions. The next president can undo what has previously been done.
- Most people in France are comfortable if conservative in their buying habits and lifestyles. By and large, there is a roof overhead, good food and wine, paid for healthcare and education, clean cities and towns, good roads, and excellent rail service. Most don't travel far from home, enjoy good days and weeks off, working like hell when they are at work. No water cooler chats here.
- The squeeze is on though and many are feeling the discomfort of increased costs, less access to public services as Macron is cutting one third of public employees out of services to the public.
- This is by no means a complete list of difficulties or problems facing the nation of France. The EU complicates relationships of France with its workers and unions; difficulties with establishing sound eco practices regarding biocides, pollution, intercity train access, public safety net services.

Now an illustration why folks are so upset with the "points" system. We have a forty-two year old friend, who is an excellent stone worker (Yes the old crafts are still in use, with many people able to make things that are amazing and have direct links to centuries' old work.)

He is really beginning to hurt from his years as a trained, certified stone mason. There are many tilers, and builders who do hard manual work, but wear out long before sixty. Other occupations also burden the workers in various ways which tend to deteriorate the health and enjoyment of life for people in difficult positions.

The point system as it currently sits would penalize our friend who may need to retire from his profession basically because of pain. If it is going to work, some method of awarding points on a weighted basis might get the retirement system where it needs to be. Short of that, what we will all see, is people in the street.

Raising the retirement age only raises the unemployment age and rates for young new entrants into the workforce.

Macron has done his best to separate the police and national police from the populace by promising them a grandfathered guarantee of protection of their retirement. He is trying to splinter objection to his plans and to pit the guards and police, also firemen and first responders from the other workers. There has also been attempts to splinter the public sector workers from private industry workers.

This trajectory is accelerating all around, but is still some thirty years behind the US. It remains to be seen whether this round can be negotiated as the global elites have consolidated their power and push back against these protests.

I haven't covered this in nearly enough depth or with enough links, but it is a glimpse of what we see in France this week of Solstice and Christmas.

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Granma's picture

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Dawn's Meta's picture

@Granma

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A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

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Lookout's picture

I bought a yellow vest at trade day for $1 the other day...told him I was headed for France.

Best wishes for the strikers and all working people everywhere..hoping they can create a good life with a livable wage!

Thanks for the insights.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

joe shikspack's picture

or probably nearly morning where you are. Smile

thanks very much for the report! i hope that macron gets run out on a rail for this.

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Dawn's Meta's picture

@joe shikspack of protest, poverty or compromise. We can only hope. Good to see you.

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A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

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Dawn's Meta's picture

@joe shikspack of ways it could be modified. It's a tough thing to do, but first as Gov. Kitzhaber in Oregon did with health plans, he ranked illness and disease by survivability, loss of quality of life and other qualifiers. Then they were ranked in an order; cost to treat was assigned; then each year a line was drawn under what the Oregon health plan fund could pay for. So it was variable depending on demand and funding.

Same could be done with occupations, retirement age and ability to work without further damaging a human body.

We do see with people like Keith Richards, though, he is incredibly resilient. Whereas others with much less abuse left a long time ago.

So within a group of people each would have a different ability to handle the work. There might be some easy way to account for differences like these, but maybe those in actuarial work could answer this problem.

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A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

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joe shikspack's picture

@Dawn's Meta

So it was variable depending on demand and funding.

my quibble with this is that funding is always a matter of priorities - particularly in a country that controls its own currency. i don't want people who are having a health challenge to have to compete with yet another tax break demanded by the rich for funding that is merely a data entry in an annual budget.

nobody should have to hear that they are going to be sacrificed because the bean counters refuse to count more beans.

in the same way, in a country as wealthy as france or the united states, there is no reason for people who have worked and contributed to be denied their existential needs in retirement.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@joe shikspack Do we need to be told the answer?

Answer (you already know this): TPTB

Entitlements is now a dirty word, especially if you're a neoliberal. But the root of the word means that a person or things gains privilege of possession in return for service provided. Neoliberals do not hone service. They honor wealth. They reward wealth with more wealth.

Is this economic Calvinism: god blesses the rich because they must have in some way deserved to be rich. In other words, the rich are entitled to become more rich.

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@Alligator Ed @Alligator Ed Calvin beat Darwin to the concept by several hundred years. Now we would just say it is in your DNA. Only the strong (best adapted) survive economically.

Actually Calvin stole the idea from St. Augustine. Who knows who Augustine got it from.

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Cassiodorus's picture

but there are still "broad swathes of the country not feeling the strikes at all."

Would you be willing to elaborate on how this is so?

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“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon

Dawn's Meta's picture

@Cassiodorus @Cassiodorus @Cassiodorus @Cassiodorus @Cassiodorus

Even in Paris a few blocks away from the chosen Places (Place Republique and others) you wouldn't know anything is going on. In many smaller cities, including Lyon, the size of Portland, Oregon, it is hardly seen. TV is often the best way to know where strikes and protests are focused. For people in France, fifty kilometers is a very long distance. Most stay close to home, and use the car to get to the next town where other members of their family may be. Trucking is what carries the packages, groceries, goods for sale, so again not much of a dent.

The rural areas (provinces) towns and villages which are not Toulouse, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Paris, and a little bit Lyon, not even a color symbol like the Yellow Vests which people put on their dashboards to show support, is evident.

But the strikes are affecting more by profession, union involvement, students, retirees, are who are turning out. And generally in the big cities I listed above, with pre-published locations so people know what to avoid.

Most often to get the nation's attention, transportation and the support systems like refineries, are targeted. If you wanted to use the train system, especially the TGV (high speed within France); Lyria (high speed to other countries); some regional airports; round abouts and Autoroute paystations...then you will directly encounter a difficulty or inability to travel this Christmas. It has hit children travelling without parents the hardest, as they are usually accompanied by monitors.

Christmas Markets throughout France have been going during Advent, with not a hitch. We are staying in Lyon at the moment, and visited Strasbourg a couple of weeks ago. See and saw nothing except empty SNCF train systems.
The shops near strike locations have had serious problems with vandalism. So they board things up and close. We saw some of this in Clermont-Ferrand (home of Michelin). The cops would clump together and every so often venture across squares and pedestrian areas. They looked scared. The people on the other hand, were casual, laughing, had their kids, drank hot coffee to keep warm, and used their iPhones to charge to a certain areas near the main square (Place Jaude). No one broke anything.

There is violence especially in Paris. We out here in the provinces have no idea if it comes from the protesters, provocateurs, or the police. There is often a lot of smoke bombs and it is difficult to see what is happening.

Chris Hedges says it better and probably has more views of what is going on. From April, but still much the same.
Chris Hedges in April on French protests.

Another TruthDig article from a year ago talks about what people are doing.
French Standard of Living.

From France 24

In its own conclusion, COR’s report acknowledges that “the deficit is not linked to evolutions in spending on [public] pensions, which remain stable relative to GDP.” Rather, “it is a result of a decrease in the resources made available to the pension system, which itself is largely a consequence of the decrease – as a percentage of GDP – in the contributions coming from public entities [such as the state]”.

Referring to recent policies that helped widen the pension deficit, Cohen added: “it’s a bit rich of the government to deprive our pension system of resources and then complain of a deficit.”

Percent of GDP has stabilized.

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A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

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snoopydawg's picture

This is helpful in understanding what is happening in France. The protests don't look like they are letting up and yet Macron is still hell bent on getting him agenda done. F him and the white horse he rode in on because he is just doing what leaders all over the globe are trying to do. And that in my opinion is culling the herd. Population control. How else can you explain trying to do away with the money people who no longer work so that they can't survive? Trump has started doing this here too. Cutting people off food stamps. Making it more difficult for people to stay on SSDI and SSI. THis is just the first step towards eventually getting to the real meat: Social Security and Medicare. He has already defunded Medicaid by a large amount.

Reagan, Clinton and Obama cut food stamps and funding for other social programs. Bush 1 may have, but I don't recall. Clinton tried to cut SS, but Newt was too busy impeaching him to play along. Obama then tried to cut it, but the republicans didn't want to play with him either.

Oh yes we are seeing a culling of the herd. If Trump is reelected then I am betting he will be the one that finally gets SS on the chopping block. With permission from both parties.

So F the horses they are riding too!

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There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Dawn's Meta's picture

@snoopydawg PM and others to fight for him. The PM does alot of the foot work on these difficult policies.

Just like the Post Office in the US, the central government takes away the good paying package delivery and gives it to UPS and later FedEx. Eventually they admit they won't support rural delivery. So the Post Office steps up and takes difficult rural deliveries.

What the articles are saying is that the national government of France is reducing its obligations of funding retirement for the 20% that isn't made up of members' personal deductions. Like Social Security this is a front loaded, self funded system with in this case 20% exceptions.

US expats lost Medicare portability to foreign residences a long while back. Now we 9 million, are fighting to keep our SS benefits, which as traitors, we should give up. We were never offered our deductions for Medicare back. One of only a couple of countries in the world that does this.

Very sad. Thanks Snoopy.

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A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

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snoopydawg's picture

It had Macron's party name on it and then they burned it. This sure seems like they are sending him a message.

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There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

fond of that. i'll add this action, which is sweet as all giddy-up:

thanks, dawn's meta. i understood most of it. ; ) i loved your analogy to US the post office. what a travesty that's been, having to pay ahead 20 (?) years of workers' benefits.

p.s. when you edit, you can delete all the the original @s that are added on each edit.

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