Unions demand earlier Juppe talks, wider agenda (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: Sat, 16 Dec 95 09:24:30 -0800
From: Neighborhood Queen <clyde@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Multiple recipients of list <riot-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Unions demand earlier Juppe talks, wider agenda

Unions demand earlier Juppe talks, wider agenda
a1218LBY574reulb
r i BC-FRANCE-STRIKES-BLONDE   12-14 0555
^BC-FRANCE-STRIKES-BLONDEL 2NDLD@
 ^Unions demand earlier Juppe talks, wider agenda@
 (Recasts with second union calling for earlier talks)
    By John Follain
    PARIS, Dec 14 (Reuter) - The two French unions leading
public sector strikes demanded on Thursday that Prime Minister
Alain Juppe bring forward labour talks due on December 21 with a
wider agenda.
    Both the Communist-led CGT and the smaller and non-partisan
Force Ouvriere (FO), in letters to Juppe, said the talks must
cover unpopular welfare reforms which have prompted the 21-day
stoppage.
    But in a conciliatory move, FO suggested discussing terms
for a return to work.
    CGT leader Louis Viannet accused the prime minister of
playing for time and underestimating the seriousness of the
crisis by delaying the proposed labour summit.
    ``If, on the basis of a limited and vague agenda, a meeting
were to have no effect, the backlash would definitely be very
strong,'' Viannet wrote.
    Juppe had offered to discuss jobs, but Viannet said the
talks should include welfare, wages and the future of public
services.
    ``Does (Juppe) want the strikes and the protest movements to
last until the 21st?'' FO leader Marc Blondel asked at a news
conference.
    He too set out a wide-ranging agenda: a cut in working
hours, better conditions for retirement, the welfare plan and
the impact on consumer spending. FO also demanded the government
withdraw its proposal to overhaul the management of the social
security system which is shared by unions and employers.
    But it extended an olive branch. ``We feel that it is
necessary, if we want to show a desire for conciliation at this
meeting, to set the traditional conditions for a return to work
after a long conflict,'' FO's letter said.
    Terms for an end to labour stoppages in France often include
some compensation for strikers' lost pay.
    Juppe has made a string of concessions in recent days,
pledging to leave public sector pensions untouched and to
negotiate from scratch a restructuring plan for state-owned SNCF
railways that has prompted a railworkers' stoppage.
    There were signs the strikes were losing momentum following
Juppe's climbdowns, with a small minority of workers at SNCF and
Paris public transport authority RATP voting to return to work,
and strike turnout falling at the post office and civil service.
    Blondel said the change showed ``lack of solidarity'' but
added: ``If the trains start up again, if the RATP restarts
services, that doesn't mean the conflict has been solved.''
    ``We call protests and people do what they want. There is a
kind of discontent which is not only a financial 'I've had
enough', but is also about jobs,'' Blondel said.
    Saying Juppe had been too daring in telling a newspaper
interviewer recently that it would take two million
demonstrators in the streets to topple his government, Blondel
predicted that number would be reached on Saturday.
    FO, the CGT and several unions have called for marches in
many cities and towns on Saturday to press strikers' grievances.
    ``We'll see what happens on Satuday and depending on that
demonstration we can't rule out the conflict continuing. That
also depends on whether Juppe has met us,'' Blondel said.
    The last such day of action on Tuesday drew 1.7 million to
two million protesters according to unions, but closer to a
million according to the Interior Ministry.
 ^REUTER@
Reut11:49 12-14-95

Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Service


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