[PEN-L:1777] more from France

[JDevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (James Devine)]

the following message was posted to the Post Keynesian Thought
list and may be of interest:

Re: Request Report from France

Thu, 7 Dec 1995 11:40:16 +0000
Bernard Girard (bgirard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)

> A PKT report from France on current struggle
> between government and workers is requested.
> If I have mislabeled the struggle, please
> report on it anyway, and clarify the parties,
> the issues, and the portents for other nations.

This report won't be PKT, but here are some glimpses on what happens here.
A fortnight ago, the government announced :
- a reform our social security system. This reform looked like what
socialists wanted to do but could not because of the opposition of the
medical professions. It had a good reception from some socialist leaders
ans unionist (one of the main unions, formely leftist, approved it). But
this reform met the very strong opposition of one Union (FO) that managed
with the employer's association most of the social security system ;
- a reform of the retirement system of the people working in public
services (instead of 37,5 years of cotisations to get a full retirement,
the governement decided to ask 40 years) ;
- a reform of the railway system in line with what the European community
wants and the privatization of the telecom company.
All this together with student's unrest, Chirac's demagogy (he is doing te
exact inverse of what he promised during the campaign) and rightist
rethorics (ministers explaining, for instance, that bus drivers have
"privileges" because they have a life long working contract) made the
formidable strike we now have.

>From what people say in the streets, it looks like a collective refusal
of
the politics you have had in the states and GB for so long (short-term
jobs, growing wage inequality=8A). Some say it's the first anti-Maastricht
strike. It's obviously a strike against Europe's technocrats who want to
privatize public utilities. It is also a strike against the markets that
force the government to fight deficits rather than unemployment.
It's not a strike to get more money, it's a strike to preserve what people
already have. The atmosphere is here very strange, very soft. Not cheerful
like in 1968, soft : people leave home go to work at 4.30, 5 in the
morning, they come back at 9 in the evening, they go to bed and start
again. They are getting tired. But there is no anger againts the strikers.
Not yet, at least.
My explanation is that strikers and non-strikers have the same enemy :
uncertainty. "What will be the life of my children" is the most common
question.

Bernard Girard
<bgirard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>


forwarded by
Jim Devine   jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ.
7900 Loyola Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045-8410 USA
310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950
"It takes a busload of faith to get by." -- Lou Reed.