France drafts buses, boats for strike-weary Paris (fwd)

[Chegitz Guevara <mluziett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Marc, "the Chegitz," Luzietti
personal homepage: http://shrike.depaul.edu/~mluziett
political homepage: http://shrike.depaul.edu/~mluziett/chegitz.html

"Gas! GAS! Quick boys!--an ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone was still yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and the thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning."

>From "Dulce Et Decorum Est," written sometime between Oct. 1917 & March
1918, by Wilfred Owen, killed in the last week of WWI.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 4 Dec 95 19:57:34 -0800
Subject: France drafts buses, boats for strike-weary Paris

France drafts buses, boats for strike-weary Paris
a1026reute
u i BC-FRANCE-STRIKES   12-03 0750
^BC-FRANCE-STRIKES (SCHEDULED, PICTURE)@
 ^France drafts buses, boats for strike-weary Paris@
    By Irwin Arieff
    PARIS (Reuter) - Prime Minister Alain Juppe clung to his
hard line against growing labor unrest Sunday, drafting buses
and river boats to provide relief for the strike-battered Paris
region, but union leaders warned the strike will snowball.
    Starting Monday afternoon, some 1,700 rented buses and the
city's fleet of river boats, which normally shuttle tourists
along the river Seine, will gradually be put into service to
carry strike-weary commuters around the capital, officials said.
    Juppe aides said the move showed his determination not to
cave in to strikers' demands to drop controversial plans for
welfare reform in the face of union warnings that the unrest
will soon worsen.
    ``The reforms are necessary,'' government spokesman Alain
Lamassoure told reporters, adding that Juppe had ``confirmed the
government's (policy) line, which is quite clear.''
    Meanwhile, in Cotonou, Benin, President Jacques Chirac,
dropping a pledge not to talk domestic politics during the
Francophone summit, said Sunday that France had no alternative
but to put its economic house in order.
    Chirac appealed to his compatriots to back his efforts to
curb state spending and put the country back on its feet.
    ``My dear compatriots, France is at something of a
crossroads,'' he told the French community in the West African
state of Benin, host to the sixth Francophone summit.
    ``Either she continues on the road to decline, continuing to
take the soft option and treat as inevitable deficits which
bring unemployment in their wake and are at the origin of social
exclusion,'' he said, adding:
    ``Or she rejects the spirit of abandon, attacks with courage
this disease that is gnawing away at us and which we call public
deficits, unemployment and gives herself the means to achieve
greatness, progress and fraternity,'' he added.
    Labor Minister Jacques Barrot urged angry unions to begin a
dialog with the government, but insisted that reforms go
forward.
    ``I want both dialog and reform,'' he told RTL television.
    Paris Mayor Jean Tiberi had urged the government to call in
military trucks or lease buses to help commuters during a public
transit strike, which was in its sixth day Sunday.
    The army had been called in during 1988 strikes to help
commuters navigate jammed capital streets.
    The plan to enlist private buses and boats was approved
during a crisis meeting of Juppe and senior Cabinet ministers
convened Sunday morning.
    In the most serious labor unrest to hit France in a decade,
a wave of strikes has paralyzed nationwide passenger and freight
rail movements, and shut down all Paris region public transport.
    Over the weekend the strikes began cutting into utilities,
mail and other public services, and they were expected to hit
tax offices, telephone services, teachers, policemen, health
workers and even the French central bank starting Monday.
    Union leaders also called on private sector workers to join
the protests, which are aimed at blocking Juppe's plans to raise
taxes and trim the debt-laden welfare system.
    The government argues the reforms are required to cut
France's budget deficit enough to qualify for a single European
currency from 1999. Unions worry the plan will lead to layoffs
and cutbacks in health care and pension benefits.
    On another front, striking university students met Sunday
with Education Minister Francois Bayrou in their own challenge
to government efforts to cut deficits.
    Student representatives demanded $800 million in extra
funds, double their previous demand.
    They also requested an extra $10 billion over five years to
hire more teachers, fund additional scholarships and provide
other new resources.
    Bayrou agreed to shift another $74 million already in the
budget to the poorest universities, in addition to $40 million a
year he had pledged earlier.
    In a statement, he also promised to create another 2,000
teaching posts and to hire 2,000 more administrative personnel.
    ``The students and the university community are neither
hostile nor indifferent. They are our partners,'' he said.
    But even before the meeting, student leaders appealed for a
new day of demonstrations in Paris Tuesday. More than half of
France's 90 public universities have been hit by strikes.
    Juppe, who has tied his political future to the reforms, has
remained in the background in the past few days but plans to
make a televised appearance early in the week, aides said.
 ^REUTER@
Reut15:20 12-03-95

Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Service


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