How was the grève for you?

[lily]

Hi,

Have you all survived the grève today?  After worrying for the last week as to whether my father-in-law would get his flight back to England with Flybe from La Rochelle today, all was well, we arrived in good time after checking on the internet that the flight was on time.  We checked him in and were told the flight was delayed by 30mins, not too bad considering the delays that we were expecting.  We got him safely through the check-in and started to make our way back home, on the ring road north of La Rochelle all the traffic started to slow down, then eventually came to a halt.  The two lanes were jammed solid with cars, lorries and the motorbikes which proceeded to zoom in and out between the traffic.  We were at a standstill for an hour, switched off the engine and had a doze in the sunshine.  When we eventually got moving the police had blocked off a road so presume there was some sort of protest up there, couldn't get any helpful info on the radio as they are on strike also.

Just thankful this didn't happen on the way to the airport. Surely no one can have sympathy for strikes like this as they are so disruptive to everyone in life.  Watch out for the next one!

Lily

[NormanH]

Sorry, but I thought that the whole point of a strike was to be disruptive.

I suppose you would prefer it to be in toffee-apple factories, so it didn't upset 'everyone in life.' who has a holiday home in France  and enough money to waste on needless 'allez -retours'  with low cost airlines.

These people are battling for  real survival after 60, not your privileged way of life.

[Chancer]

I agree with you entirely Norman except for the battling for survival.

Given that the average pension at age 60 is more than 60% of final salary I hardly call that a battle, under the new reform which lets face it is necessary and cannot be ignored they will have a few more years at 100% salary if it eally is that much of a battle to live on 60%.

[NormanH]

http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/tableau.asp?reg_id=0&ref_id=NATCCF04564

Figures from Insée

[cooperlola]

The argument which I hear voiced the most amongt the staff at the hospital where I go (just so happens this is the closest I come to really knowing strikers - rather than just reading about them - so it's hardly a true representation I'll admit) is the idea that if they are forced to remain in work for longer, then more young people at the bottom of the food chain will be deprived of jobs due to the knock on effect.

Absolutely Norman, a strike without consequences would be a little pointless, n'est-ce pas?

[Chancer]

I have always admired the effectiveness of the French strikes, especially the way they disrupt every other nationality before themselves.

Norman the figures are even higher than I expected, even the minimum figure for women (who dont appear to have worked anywhere near as much as the men) I would gladly battle to have right now.

[lily]

Sorry, but I thought that the whole point of a strike was to be disruptive.
I suppose you would prefer it to be in toffee-apple factories, so it didn't upset 'everyone in life.' who has a holiday home in France  and enough money to waste on needless 'allez -retours'  with low cost airlines.
These people are battling for  real survival after 60, not your privileged way of life.

We all have our own opinion and professional people respect this.  I have been living and working in France for 22 years, have you?  I am now drawing my French pension.  Myself and 70% of my French colleagues are fed up with these disruptive strikes.  Everyone has the right to protest and let their voices be heard but when they stop other people who are struggling to make a living and bring up their families, it is not so amusing.  Myself, and many of my French friends continue to work independently although we are drawing a pension.  We don’t want to retire, we enjoy living our life to the full.  If you watch and read the news you will see that a majority of the strikers today were as young as fifteen years old and students from the college.

Everyone has their own views!!

 

 

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

The post office was closed today because of the strikes, but I was surprised that normal mail service was still on. How does that work?

[Judith]

[quote user="cooperlola"]

The argument which I hear voiced the most amongt the staff at the hospital where I go (just so happens this is the closest I come to really knowing strikers - rather than just reading about them - so it's hardly a true representation I'll admit) is the idea that if they are forced to remain in work for longer, then more young people at the bottom of the food chain will be deprived of jobs due to the knock on effect.

[/quote]

I thought that this was the idea of the 35hr week, so that more and younger people would find jobs, but it didn't happen.  As far as I can see similar ideas in the UK (that older people should retire so that younger people can have their jobs) fails because the jobs that are freed by older people retiring cannot be filled by younger people as they do not have the right or sufficient experience, or they cannot be employed as they are often unemployable at the same level as older workers.

This is hearsay rather than knowledge, but I had enough trouble trying to find work in the UK when I was in my 40s and 50s and all the adverts I saw wanted young people, and they could not get them ...... so even if older people had retired to let youngsters fill the holes, there were still not enough of them to go round, or so it seemed to me.

As far as the current disturbances go, it is evident that the French system has to be reformed (OK there are people on poor pensions, especially women, but this is true everywhere) but the country cannot continue to sustain retirement at such an early age with such generous benefits, without some sacrifices having to be made, and this is what I hear from my french friends.

[Judith]

[quote user="Mr Coeur de Lion"]The post office was closed today because of the strikes, but I was surprised that normal mail service was still on. How does that work?[/quote]

I don't understand that either, but at least I got my birthday cards (for tomorrow!!), which was rather nice.

[Just Chris]

Grève, what grève? Didn't notice anything different around here.

[Etoile]

France reminds me of England in the sixties - A beautiful and pleasant land but supported by a totally unsustainable financial regime.

If you don't like the terms of your employment then resign, simple as that. France needs to grow up here. We pay so much tax and it is nice having the bins emptied twice a week, but every Euro we earn is keeping us plus a dole scrounger and a civil servant; I don't know who is a greater waste of space, probably the latter.

[Chancer]

I guess if you have it so good like the print workers at Wapping in the 80's, the dockers at Marseilles or the current French retirement system then its worth striking to try and keep hold of it but can one really expect to do so in this age of globalisation? I thik not.

Here is a link to the job spec of the dock crane operators at Marseille

http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/actualite/social/20101011.OBS1105/grutier-a-marseille-le-meilleur-emploi-du-monde.html

I think that PPP had posted the image but it may have been removed for copywright reasons.

It amuses me masively to see the reconductible SNCF strike action that really is hitting the French working public, like a petulant child they still havnt got over having their retirement age go up from 50, my mate is retired at 55 and he has been a desk jockey all his (non) working life apart from his long holidays and strike days.

[Gardian]

Minimal effect really.

We went to Ales for the periodic hairdresser visit (mine's easier than OH's - I just tell the 'stylist' to only cut the grey bits out.)

Hard to park on arrival. Big demo in the mainstreet, firecrackers going off, 6-wide procession for about half an hour. Hairdressers disinterested.

The bottom line is that a pensionable age of 60 is unaffordable: end of story.   

[Gardian]

[quote user="NormanH"]and enough money to waste on needless 'allez -retours'  with low cost airlines.
These people are battling for  real survival after 60, not your privileged way of life.
[/quote]

Norman ........

A typically needless (to use your word) cheap shot, which says nothing about the understandable, but ultimately futile, desires of many French to maintain their unsustainable pension terms.

On here, we know nothing of each other's financial circumstances. Some will be quite well-off, either through successful careers or inheritance. Others will doubtless be quite hard-up, for a variety of reasons. I suspect that the majority will be OK, but hardly 'flush', particularly recently.

To talk of a "privileged way of life", as if it applies to all British residents in France, is complete bollocks.  

[Gardengirl]

Nicely put, Gardian.

The procession here went round the boulevard very noisily; maybe a couple of hundred, about half of them youngsters; lots of CGT flags and those noisy blowers. They were going off to join in the big demo at Nimes in the afternoon.

Lots of locals were going about their business, many with hands covering ears. I spoke about it with a number of people while shopping, all but one of them having brought the subject up;the other is a neighbour, works in the newsagents, and I dived in there just as all the noise was passing! All were against the strike, the most vehement being an old chap who works in the greengrocers 6 days a week; he reckoned he couldn't understand it all, and if he was still working in his 70s, why shouldn't they! I got chapter and verse on starting work as a boy, long hours, with crack of dawn visits to the market each day. He says he's as fit as a fiddle, unlike a lot of them who'll of boredom soon after retirement, and then what good will early retirement be!  [:)]

We also received our post, which was a pleasant surprise.

[Iceni]

[quote user="NormanH"]

These people are battling for  real survival after 60, not your privileged way of life.
[/quote]

In which case they should be grateful for the opportunity to continue working.

John

[Quillan]

I think it strange that some years ago many older people wanted to work longer not necessarily a full week but a couple of days. I think it was B&Q in the UK that started a precedence of employing older people and some other shops followed. Meanwhile I was reading that in France many find themselves working to 67 to get a 100% pension and that only public/government sector workers get to retire early with a good pension. In our local town only La Poste and the banks were closed and many people I met thought it quite ironic that the banks were closed given that we are led to believe it was their greed that got us in this global mess in the first place. Touch of 'now we have dropped you in the mearde we are off on strike'.

I don't think this has the full backing of the general public and rather than get their support the strikers are actually alienating themselves from the rest. Being France I can see that if this continues there may be a bit of a backlash against the strikers and things might turn nasty but we shall see.

[casa99]

I think its all gonna kick off over here soon the natives are getting restless still have a nice birthday judith.

[Sprogster]

Less one forgets, like some other countries France is running a massive deficit and is therefore totally reliant on borrowing large amounts of money internationally, to fund what is probably the worlds most generous retirement and benefits system. If the French government fail in their reforms, the concern is that the sovereign rating of France will be marked down and the cost of borrowing as a result will increase considerably, thereby worsening the deficit and increasing the need for further cuts and tax rises. As Greece, Ireland and Spain are currently discovering to their cost.

[Quillan]

[quote user="Sprogster"]Less one forgets, like some other countries France is running a massive deficit and is therefore totally reliant on borrowing large amounts of money internationally, to fund what is probably the worlds most generous retirement and benefits system. If the French government fail in their reforms, the concern is that the countries sovereign rating will be marked down and the cost of borrowing as a result will increase considerably, thereby worsening the deficit and increasing the need for further cuts and tax rises. As Greece, Ireland and Spain are currently discovering to their cost.[/quote]

Yes and people just look at their own country and don't see that the whole thing is bigger, even Germany is having some problems and its one of the richest in the EU. When they say 'we are all in this together' we certainly are and it goes beyond country borders.

[NormanH]

[quote user="lily"]

Sorry, but I thought that the whole point of a strike was to be disruptive.

I suppose you would prefer it to be in toffee-apple factories, so it didn't upset 'everyone in life.' who has a holiday home in France  and enough money to waste on needless 'allez -retours'  with low cost airlines.

These people are battling for  real survival after 60, not your privileged way of life.

We all have our own opinion and professional people respect this.  I have been living and working in France for 22 years, have you?  I am now drawing my French pension.  Myself and 70% of my French colleagues are fed up with these disruptive strikes.  Everyone has the right to protest and let their voices be heard but when they stop other people who are struggling to make a living and bring up their families, it is not so amusing.  Myself, and many of my French friends continue to work independently although we are drawing a pension.  We don’t want to retire, we enjoy living our life to the full.  If you watch and read the news you will see that a majority of the strikers today were as young as fifteen years old and students from the college.

Everyone has their own views!!

 

 

[/quote]

I have been living and working in France for 22 years, have you? 

No a bit less: nearly 16 years.

I am now drawing my French pension. Me too

Myself and 70% of my French colleagues are fed up with these disruptive strikes.  You have been here too long; you are losing your command of English. You mean  " I and" not "Myself and" . How dis you measure the  70% , House to house?

We don’t want to retire, we enjoy living our life to the full   by depriving the younger generation of jobs as long as you squat in them?

You have a pension and so you are secure but in addition you want to continue working?

Why not do voluntary social work?

Your whole first post reeks of irritation at the inconvenience caused to your father in law by people with a genuine grievance.

[Gardian]

Really, really.

Best ignored, everybody.

[woolybanana]

Norman, your job squatting arguement is hideous. The fault lies with educators and politicians failure to create jobs or the opportunities for new jobs for young people. it is not with older people job blocking.

[Quillan]

Norm, I don' think its fair to say she is effectively taking a job from a young person, I don't know that and neither do you, perhaps she is working because there is nobody to take her place. Many people look forward to retiring whilst others don't and want to go on as long as possible, my father was one of these, he probably knew about the list of jobs my mother had prepared for when he stopped going to work. [;-)] If people want to carry on working after they are entitled to retire well that's up to them, just as those who can't wait to 'clock out' on the final day look forward to their retirement. Its all about freedom of choice and that, as humans, is our right.