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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Greve-Striking the French Way

Alright, for those of us who are not at the least bit aware of what's going on in my current country of residence, here we go.

At this current moment, the unions of France are striking to prevent the government from changing the age of retirement from 60 to 62, also something to do with the pension and stuff, but this is the gist.

As a developed country, most French enjoy a long life. The natural presumption to the government (who is trying to alieve their debt) is that French can work longer, a whopping two years longer. Result? Chaos.

The youths who are striking from high school, are doing so because someone is telling them that these old geezers, I mean workers, will be taking the jobs that they will be trying to get. Let's stop, what 61 year old is doing a job that you would WANT as a 20 something year old? I would assume, that these younger people would enter the job market in entry level positions, but I clearly underestimated the French.

How does this affect me? Didn't really, until I realized that unions strike with other unions, even if they don't necessarily agree. Is the sindicalist version of empathy. Anyway, gas is not being moved from the refinieries, so basically, its like the Oil Embargo of the 1970s (or was it 80s?) on the streets. Closed gas stations, long lines, the whole deal. The trains around are still wacky, and I have no way to get gas for my car, so there's a reeeally good chance I will be staying in this weekend, and to be honest that's the last straw.

Can I strike against the strike?

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