French unions win round one, multiply demands (fwd)

[Chegitz Guevara <mluziett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Marc, "the Chegitz," Luzietti
personal homepage: http://shrike.depaul.edu/~mluziett
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A curse on the judges, the coppers and screws | Who tortured the
innocent, the wrongly accused, | For the price of promotion | And justice
to sell | May the judged be their judges when they rot down in hell

The Pogues, "Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six"

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 95 19:07:19 -0800
From: Neighborhood Queen <clyde@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Multiple recipients of list <riot-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: French unions win round one, multiply demands

French unions win round one, multiply demands
a1048LBY729reulb
r i BC-FRANCE-STRIKES-UNIONS   12-13 0607
^BC-FRANCE-STRIKES-UNIONS (SCHEDULED)@
 ^French unions win round one, multiply demands@
    By John Follain
    PARIS, Dec 13 (Reuter) - After winning round one with
concessions from the French government, trade unions
spearheading 20-day public sector strikes are making conflicting
demands as the tussle over welfare reforms drags on.
    Prime Minister Alain Juppe's olive branch, far from stopping
rail and other stoppages, has highlighted traditional
differences between labour groups.
    Solving the dispute looks more complicated than ever.
    In the latest climbdown, the government said on Wednesday
there would be no change in civil servants' retirement age,
fixed a date for a ``social summit'' with unions and business
leaders on December 21, and said separate talks on an unpopular
railways restructuring plan could start from square one.
    Buoyed by a record turnout in marches across the country on
Tuesday which unions say saw 1.7 million protesters in the
streets, labour federations have variously called for the
reforms to be dropped completely, for negotiation and for a
compromise. Some want the strikes called off.
    The pro-Communist CGT, the biggest of the unions
spearheading the protests, wants Juppe's welfare plan shelved.
    Communist leader Robert Hue, whose party has close links to
the CGT, hammered the message home. He told TF1 television that
Juppe had not made enough concessions and added ``demonstrators
yesterday were calling for the withdrawal of the Juppe plan.''
    Unlike the CGT, which has pressed for the past week for a
shelving of the plan's new taxes, spending curbs and higher
retirement age, its junior strike partner raised the stakes.
    ``With a demonstration this big, you can't imagine we're
going to drop our pants,'' Marc Blondel, combative leader of the
non-partisan Force Ouvriere (FO), said at a huge Paris march. He
wants the December 21 talks to focus not only on the crisis but
also on unemployment and wages.
    FO is among the hardest-hit by the reforms, because Juppe
wants to overhaul welfare management to rob it of its control
over health insurance, a vital source of power and funds.
    Leading trade unions had at least unanimously rallied to
Blondel's call for the Juppe-chaired negotiations.
    But they do not see eye-to-eye on what to discuss.
    ``Let's start with the withdrawal of the Juppe plan. Then we
can talk about wages, employment, and cuts in working hours,'' a
CGT official said.
    But France's biggest union, the Socialist-led CFDT which has
opposed the strikes from the outset as Communist party plot,
wants the talks to be only on employment.
    So does the smaller, Christian CFTC union, which says Juppe
has given in to strikers' demands and the protests should stop.
The biggest teachers' union, the FEN, has also called for an end
to the strikes.
    ``The gulfs that separate us are obvious. We're not going to
side any more than in the past with those who call for the Juppe
plan to be withdrawn,'' a CFDT official said.
    Any focus on employment issues would open a can of worms.
The government wants a shorter working week to create jobs,
unions want no cuts in wages, and employers want the government
to foot the bill.
    Further complicating the search for a solution to the labour
crisis is the strong turnout in the provinces, which is stronger
than during May 1968 worker-student protests and is seen as
reflecting widespread discontent beyond Juppe's reforms.
    The CGT has called more demonstrations across the country
for Saturday to press for the welfare reform plan to be dropped.
Other unions, and the opposition Socialist Party, may follow
suit, but their banners will not all carry the same message.
 ^REUTER@
Reut10:48 12-13-95

Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Service


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