French strikers in huge marches, Juppe stands firm (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 18:56:54 -0801
From: Neighborhood Queen <clyde@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Multiple recipients of list <riot-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: French strikers in huge marches, Juppe stands firm

French strikers in huge marches, Juppe stands firm
a1908reute
u i BC-FRANCE-STRIKES   12-12 0730
^BC-FRANCE-STRIKES 2NDLD PICTURE)@
 ^French strikers in huge marches, Juppe stands firm@
 (Adds parliament rejection of no-confidence motion, paras 8-9)
    By Paul Taylor
    PARIS (Reuter) - Striking public service workers staged
their biggest show of strength yet across France on Tuesday but
embattled conservative Prime Minister Alain Juppe said his
bitterly disputed welfare reforms would go ahead.
    Trade unions said between 1.7 and 2 million protesters
marched throughout France to demand that Juppe abandon a plan
for new taxes and health cost controls to wipe out the debts of
the social security system, which the government says is vital
to prepare France for singe European currency in 1999.
    The Interior Ministry, whose figures are traditionally on
the low end, said the crowds totaled 985,000 and called higher
estimates ``totally unfounded.''
    Railwaymen voted to continue a crippling 19-day stoppage for
at least another 24 hours to demand more concessions despite
Juppe's pledge to shelve a plan to streamline the SNCF state
railway and preserve a generous pension scheme for rail workers.
    The Communist-led CGT union called for another day of mass
protest Saturday to demand Juppe scrap his welfare reforms.
    Unbowed by the most widespread labor unrest since the May
1968 student-worker uprising, Juppe told parliament the social
security reform would be implemented by decree from January to
save the welfare system from bankruptcy.
    ``This reform will come into effect, gradually and with
consultation,'' he said in a defiant response to a left-wing
opposition no-confidence motion. ``There is no serious
alternative to the reform I proposed.''
    Parliament later easily rejected the motion. It was
supported by just 94 members of the Socialist and Communist
parties, far short of the minimum 287 votes needed to pass.
    The motion, the second in a week, cleared the way for Juppe
to implement the core welfare reforms by decree. He said the
first two decrees creating a new tax to pay off the social
security fund's debts and reforming the organization of health
care are due to take effect in January.
    In the streets, demonstrators chanted ``Juppe resign,''
``Scrap the Juppe plan'' and ``Juppe, make the bosses pay.''
    CGT leader Louis Viannet told reporters at a Paris march:
``The only aim now is the withdrawal of the ``Juppe plan'.''
    Marc Blondel, leader of the independent Force Ouvriere,
said: ``The balance of power is on my side and on the side of
all the unions, so this is going to continue. With a
demonstration this big, you can't imagine we're going to drop
our pants.''
    Police said 100,000 people marched in the Mediterranean port
of Marseille. There were at least 50,000 in Bordeaux and
Toulouse, piled high with garbage after sanitation workers
joined the strike, and tens of thousands in Rouen, Rennes, Caen
and Nice.
    For the 19th day, there were no trains nationwide and public
transport was at a standstill in Paris and provincial towns.
Giant traffic jams clogged all approaches to the capital.
    The head of the biggest rail union, Bernard Thibault of the
CGT, said workers voted at mass meetings to extend the strike
for another 24 hours to demand guarantees of a halt to job cuts
and the withdrawal of a five-year rail restructuring plan.
    Rail unions had another meeting with goverment-appointed
mediator Jean Matteoli Tuesday.
    There were no national newspapers and public radio stations
broadcast a curtailed service. Strikes by air controllers and
airport firemen disrupted flights. The government said one-third
of the civil service was on strike, including many teachers.
    In parliament, a left-wing opposition no-confidence motion
-- the second in a week -- was certain to be defeated, clearing
the way for Juppe to implement his core welfare plan by decree.
    Because of the strikes, the government decided to move an
international conference on Bosnia Wednesday out of the capital
to Royaumont Abbey, conveniently close to Charles de Gaulle
airport, although the actual signing summit will take place at
the Elysee presidential palace in Paris Thursday.
    But the draw for the 1998 world soccer cup went ahead as
planned at the Louvre museum with a worldwide television
audience estimated at two billion.
    There were signs of divisions in union ranks with two
smaller groups, the Christian CFTC and the management CFE-CGC
union, calling for a return to work.
 ^REUTER@
Reut16:57 12-12-95

Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Service


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