Re: [Marxism] Sarkozy ready to battle the workers

[David Walters <dave.walters@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Joaquin, what you state about union "density" is true...but it hardly 
reflects the state of the workers movement in France. Unlike the US, ALL 
workers in the major service and industrial sector as represented by 
unions. Union administration in part are paid for by the bosses per the 
national contracts which most workers work under. All workers look to 
the unions and while it is true that dues paying members are very low, 
militant strikes are participated in by all workers in general strike 
assemblies, something left over from the the anarcho-syndicalist days of 
the original CGT. This is why even the "non-union" railroad (the name I 
forget) had a 100% participation, mass strike committee meetings, during 
the general strikes against the Juppe plan back in 1995.  The "9%" is an 
artificially low number compared to the number of class-conscious 
workers as a percentage of the work force.

Comparing the state of unions based on this alone is not very enlightening.

David



________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism