The French are known for Paris, luxury brands like Chanel, Dior and Givenchy, famous wines (from Bordeaux and Champagne for example), gourmet food, smoking cigarettes, pride about their language and culture and, lastly, …. striking.
Everybody knew that the unions would not allow French President Macron to reform current labor laws without a fight, and that is certainly what they prepared with 36 strike days over the next three months.
France's rail network, it’s energy network, waste collection and it’s aviation network will all be severely disrupted as a wave of strikes gets under way.
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">VIDEO: Rail workers protest inside Paris's Gare du Nord train station as three months of rolling rail strikes kick off in France <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/greveSNCF?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#greveSNCF</a> <a href="https://t.co/zjnWEmtli0">pic.twitter.com/zjnWEmtli0</a></p>— AFP news agency (@AFP) <a href="https://twitter.com/AFP/status/981154361404358657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The start of the strikes yesterday was dubbed "Black Tuesday", but the action will spread over three months, affecting two days in every five, and some fear it will likely spread to Belgium, Switzerland and Italy as well.
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Prime Minister Édouard Philippe said: "If the strikers are to be respected, the millions of French people who want to go to work, because they have no choice, because they want to go to work, must also be respected."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tens of thousands of public sector workers and students, led by the National Society of French Railways' (SNCF) staff, went on strike Tuesday to protest a series of labor reforms proposed by President Emmanuel Macron.<a href="https://t.co/O3lc0LagJk">https://t.co/O3lc0LagJk</a></p>— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) <a href="https://twitter.com/telesurenglish/status/981263820520763393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Although other public sectors will also chime in, the aim of Mr Macron is mostly the SNCF workers (French rail) who enjoy very generous working conditions (a yearly automatic pay rise and 28 days of paid annual leave) and are protected from dismissal by their unions.
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What are they striking over anyway?