Ty Webb wrote:French workers are far more eager to strike than any other nation's labor force. They will pull the trigger over and over again. Is this because they have so frequently won their concessions through industrial action?

Yes.

simmo, that jibes with what I've read and heard as well. That seems to add a lot of credence to the unions' and protestors' arguments that these first reforms will simply be "the thin edge of the wedge" and just the start of what Sarkozy would like be a nearly complete dismantling of social security (in the broad sense).

Has Sarkozy proposed privatization of any of these social benefits?

Ty Webb wrote:Has Sarkozy proposed privatization of any of these social benefits?

He's certainly keen on handing as much of the public sector as he can over to the private sector, whether covertly (hacking away at health care and leaving it to private companies to reap the rewards), or overtly (bringing in private contractors to manage affairs previously looked after by civil servants). As far as I know he's not proposing privatisation on a mass scale, Thatcher-style - well, not yet. He'd have a riot on his hands.

His real, number one fetish, however, is for taking away public workers' rights, decreasing salaries in the public sector, and generally ensuring that the gap between private and public sector increases. If he can achieve that, he'll be able to whittle down the public sector more easily, because there won't be a sorry chump on earth who wants to work for it.

I'd probably expect a lot more of the dreaded PFIs too. But in all honesty, I'm no expert - Sly Bug would probably answer your questions a lot better, and with greater factual accuracy.

Ty Webb wrote:simmo, that jibes with what I've read and heard as well. That seems to add a lot of credence to the unions' and protestors' arguments that these first reforms will simply be "the thin edge of the wedge" and just the start of what Sarkozy would like be a nearly complete dismantling of social security (in the broad sense).

Of course, but it won't be a Thatcherite dismantling, France is a country were politicians are easily corruptible so it means that certain people will still be helped (for instance the people who traditionally vote for UMP, Sarkozy gave more gifts than they asked to the fishermen a few days ago!).
Sarkozy is a neo-con and a sly guy but he's not an intellectual, an ideologist. His main interest is to be re-elected.

Ty Webb wrote:Has Sarkozy proposed privatization of any of these social benefits?

Not yet because "privatization" is still a dirty word for a lot of people. But he will be forced soon because he needs money after all the gifts he gave to his friends (and himself).
The last privatization was the highways two years ago. The government sold them at ridiculously low prices because they needed cash immediately. The fact is highways were a very good income of money and now there's nothing left (I don't remember the price they were sold but it represented something like 15 years of normal income).

the French are always striking because;

they're lazy...
[/controversy]

What controversy?...
mmmh... the heat of the bed....cant...go to work...today...


And by the way,yes, we french have the worst president ever. Comparatively, even Chirac was nice (putting aside the only nice thing he's done was being against the irak invasion, he still was a very right-winged, Gaullist, liberal). This guy is... [too afraid of his secret police to continue]

I personnally hope this strike has no end.

It's nice to talk about someone else's pain-in-the-ass president for a change.

Ty Webb wrote:http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=157032

I just noticed this. Is this your favoured news source, currently?



It looks like Sarkozy's friendliness with Bush has got Gordon Brown's government all bent out of shape, worrying about their 'special relationship'.

Cranius wrote:

Ty Webb wrote:http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=157032

I just noticed this. Is this your favoured news source, currently?

I'd never even visited the site before I went searching for more information on the issues behind this strike. But I'll probably go back out of curiosity now. As Sly Bug said, they seemed to have done a pretty good job on that story at least.