[France] Workers Protest Across France

suggested by Dan, re-posted from NYT

WORKERS PROTEST ACROSS FRANCE
By MATTHEW SALTMARSH and DAVID JOLLY
March 19, 2009

PARIS — Rail service, airports, utilities and the public sector were hit Thursday by work stoppages, the second major strike in two months, as French unions mobilized against the government’s response to the global economic crisis.

Two-thirds of the country’s high-speed TGV trains were canceled. Air France said most of its flights were operating normally from Roissy Charles de Gaulle International Airport, while about one-third of its flights from Orly Airport had been canceled. Traffic on the Paris Métro and bus networks were close to normal, according to transit officials, but suburban rail line service was disrupted.

In a joint statement, the country’s largest unions said that President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government “had categorically refused to increase the statutory minimum wage, to alter his policies in the field of public service employment,” and that the official response to the crisis was wholly inadequate.

They called on the government to safeguard jobs, to fight against labor insecurity and to protect workers’ purchasing power.

More than 200 demonstrations were expected across France, according to unions. There was no initial comment from the government about the extent of the action.

The country faces mounting dissatisfaction amid job cuts. Mirroring trends in other European countries, the number of job seekers in France rose in January by 90,200, the highest increase on record, and the fourth-quarter unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent.

The tire maker Continental is closing a plant in the Oise region which employs 1,120 people. Total, the largest French energy company, announced last week that it planned to shed some 250 jobs in the French refining sector as it cuts capacity at Gonfreville in the northwest of the country.

Faced with expectations that the French economy will contract by nearly 2 percent this year, Mr. Sarkozy announced a $35 billion stimulus plan in December.

But he has held back from announcing further measures, apart from support packages for the auto industry and banks. He recently criticized Britain for seeking to bolster consumption by cutting the value added tax.

Unions want more tax breaks and the opposition Socialist Party has called for a consumption-driven approach to restarting growth.

A poll conducted this week for the magazine Paris Match by IFOP found that 78 percent of the French support the strikers, the highest rate in a decade.

But among passengers waiting for a train to Paris at a station about 15 miles west of the capital, it was hard to find such support. “France is a bit like a sinking boat, and these strikers are just adding more holes,” said Maurice Bataille, 34.

Unsurprisingly, French business leaders expressed frustration at the strike. “It’s a big sign that people don’t know where they are; they don’t know what they want,” Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive of Total, said Wednesday. “They are lost.”

He defended the decision to cut refining jobs as something that “should have been done one or two years ago” and said that the company would keep investing and adding jobs in other areas. Union officials said production had stopped Thursday at six Total refineries, but the company said the impact on production was “limited,” according to Reuters.

Two major demonstrations were planned for central Paris later Thursday in fine spring weather. On Jan. 29, more than a million marched in cities across the country, and the following day, Mr. Sarkozy made some concessions to worker demands.