I’m not sure how much press the French strikes are getting in the U.S. but they’re all over the news here. It appears that the general retirement age will be raised from 60 to 62 (both the executive and legislative branches seem to support the initiative) and millions are taking to the streets in protest.
Thus far there have been some fairly serious repercussions for a number of industries. In particular, the petrol industry has more or less come to a standstill as workers at nearly all the refineries have joined the strike. As a result, many gas stations simply are going dry and people are unable to fill their tanks.
The major airports have also been affected by the de facto fuel shortage, with a significant number of flights being cancelled because there’s simply not enough fuel getting to the airport. And if you decide to take a train rather than fly, your odds of success aren’t necessarily much better since the strikes are resulting in the cancellation of many trains as well.
As for when all the protests will come to an end, that remains to be seen. The legislative votes are in the coming weeks and – if successful – Sarkozy intends to sign the related bill in early November. Nonetheless, one French citizen in a newspaper article offered his view on the likely timeline – basically, the strikes can’t last much longer because the fall vacation period is coming up and no one wants the strikes to get in the way their vacation.
That made me laugh.
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