(The following article is from the December 1-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.

Special to PV

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has taken his first big hit in public opinion polls after a nine-day bus and rail strike that shook the country. The strike wound down on Nov. 23, as most transport workers voted to return to work and their union leaders entered negotiations with the government. Transport authorities said that it might be days before bus and rail lines returned to full capacity. Trains were still not running in parts of southern France, where hard-line unions voted to continue the work stoppage.

     The Confédération Générale du Travail, UNSA and Sud, the three biggest rail unions, are resisting Sarkozy's plans to extend the number of years they must work to qualify for full pensions, from the current 37.5 up to 40. Transport workers are among 500,000 state employees who successfully opposed the previous round of pension cuts for the five million people employed by the public sector in 2003.

     Sarkozy's so-called "reform agenda" has drawn strong opposition. A survey published in the daily Paris newspaper Metro showed that Sarkozy's approval rating fell to 58 percent from a pre-strike level of 63 percent.

     Sarkozy faces continued resistance from other groups affected by his agenda of cuts to jobs and pension, and his proposal to base pay rates on "merit". Public sector workers staged a strike on Nov. 20 against pay and job cuts. Schools and the postal service were affected by the action as civil servants pressed for pay hikes and job security. More than 300,000 teachers stayed off the job, forcing some schools to close. Flights were delayed and newspapers not printed. Many workers at France's two main energy utilities, Electricite de France and Gaz de France, joined the strike.

     Two days later, thousands of students marched through Paris to protest a plan that would restructure French universities with private funding. Students have been blocking classes at dozens of France's 85 public universities to protest a law allowing them to seek nongovernment funding. Critics fear the change will mean schools closing their doors to the poor and scrapping classes that can't attract private funding.

     Although civil servants, transport workers, other sections of the working class, and students have different demands, their protests are the biggest test to Sarkozy's policies since he took office in May.

Found at: https://peoplesvoice.ca/articleprint08/14__STRIKES_CHALLENGE_FRENCH_PRESIDENTS.html