French unions have always been trigger happy in their
use of the strike tool. The French rail workers union has announced an especially nasty strike technique, in which
unions announce that they will be holding short strikes over months on end,
giving only very short notice of when their “chosen” days are to take place. In
their attempt to put pressure on their government, they take the rest of the
population hostage. How exactly does that differ from terrorism?
I was planning to go to Paris for a few days at the
end of May. I would have spent money in a hotel, restaurants, taxis, perhaps
even shopped. I am not taking the chance and I will spend the planned break and
money in another country.
In their egoistic quest to fight reforms, the French
are actually harming their own countrymen. Other Frenchmen (and women) will
lose; If business is bad perhaps even fired.
The right to strike is important but it becomes a
problem when the price of the dispute is paid by a third party.
Come to Rome instead! Un abbraccio
ReplyDeleteThat is a good idea :)
DeleteFrench strikes:
ReplyDeleteIt was ever thus. Strikes in any country are MEANT to hurt third parties. In most democratic countries these kinds of strikes are considered legitimate and legal (but lockouts are not). The infamous miners strikes in Britain took place in winter, the German train drivers' and pilots' strikes tool place during school holidays. The courts tend to uphold the unions' right to conduct such "industrial action".
It is definitely not a French phenomenon.
I am not sure that they are MEANT to hurt third parties; I believe that that is considered as acceptable collateral damage. The French phenomenon is not the willingness to hurt others but the trigger-happiness that I refer to.
DeleteA major French character weakness is fear of change, fear of the unknown. The French will fiercely resist change, even if that resistance is far from being in their long term interests.
ReplyDeleteContrast this with the readiness of German workers to accept freezes in wages, even reductions, in an effort to ensure that their companies survive, as occurred in the 1990s and after the financial crisis in 2008. Their sacrifices paid off handsomely.
Those not on strike in France are extraordinarily supine about the Situation, even when their own interests suffer such as the Hoteliers and Restaurateurs in Paris who won't get your custom. My theory is that they see the strikers as the heirs to the barricaders in that hallowed Event in French history, the Revolution of 1789.
People shooting themselves in the foot, or sometimes in the head (see Brexit) are a frustrating phenomenon.
DeleteMy view is that if people want to go to hell in a handcart, they can get on with it, as long as they don't take other people with them. Unfortunately they often do.
Delete