Very Striking

Just to prove that strikes are a French way of life, most of the the teachers in my sister’s middle school were off work again, for the fourth time.  I’m lucky because most of my high school teachers don’t go on strike.  My sister feels pretty lucky that she had the day off, but there was no bus and my parents had to drive her to school, pick her up for a five hour break, and then take her back for her last class.  My mom really grumbles about having to take her back and forth to school, and some don’t even bother.

The French are striking for an indefinite amount of time on the retirement issue.  It could last for weeks.  The strikers don’t want their retirement to change from age 60 to 62.  But it seems inevitable with longevity increasing, and a lack of funds to provide for such generous retirement conditions.  I think we have one of the youngest retirement ages in the world.  But in my economics class today, we discussed this issue and the teacher criticized the government’s proposal, saying it could put people out of jobs.  There would be fewer jobs for young people, he said, and already the unemployment rate for people under age 25 is about 23 percent, about the highest in developed countries.  Unemployment now is at 10 percent, the highest level in a decade.

My grandfather retired at age 57 on full pay, so it was understandable that he wouldn’t want to keep working after 40 years in banking.  But to pay for everybody to do that indefinitely, with people living older, is not going to be possible.  So this is going to be tough for France as I get older.  There is the idea in France of ‘avantage acquis’ which means literally acquired advantage, so the French are basically saying that they have a deal with the government that  has to be honored, or that nothing can change to their disadvantage.

Thousands of protesters paraded in the Paris streets two weeks ago.  My mom got stuck in the middle of this ring of protesters encircling the city.  Anybody who was there with a car was trapped for many hours.  People told her only an American would be dumb enough to drive to Paris on a strike day, but she had a special tour of the French Senate she didn’t want to miss. 

A lot of people support the strikes but a lot of people also get annoyed by them.  There are a lot of disruptions to transport, services and schools. 

Our French teacher had suggested changing the date for a test in our morning class since she expected people to be late because of bus strikes.  In the end, the last person was ‘only’ half an hour late for our two-hour class, so unfortunately she went ahead with the test.  Meanwhile my sister was blissfully watching TV and enjoying the beautiful autumn sunshine, and chasing our dog Muffin around the garden.  If I could do that, I’d support the strike!  See you soon!

Pierre