In solidarity with their brethren, the apples have also gone on strike this week.
(The why and how we shall discuss later over a pastis.) It might not be only the French who react this way but I find the sentiment to be particularly strong here. (French readers, correct me if I’m wrong) My understanding is that even if you don’t agree with the protesters, even if you’ve just spent 3 hours waiting to fill up your gas tank, even if you are standing in the pouring rain waiting for another cancelled train to not show up, there is an overarching sense of sympathetic solidarity with the plight of those who strike: a bit the “this could be me one day” approach. Interesting cultural note: You might be thinking, but aren’t the French (those not blocking the oil refineries or hanging out every night at Place de la Republique) getting fed up with all these strikes? There, my friend, you have underestimated the national virtue of “solidarité”. If it was sunny and warm, instead of grey and raining, we would all be sitting along Canal Saint-Martin sipping pastis and leaving the strikes until the rentrée in September. But I think the weather is actually to blame. So what’s up France’s bustle? A new labor law that removes some dearly-held worker protections and attempts to ease the hiring-firing processes for French companies. If you’re more of a night owl, head to Place de la Republique where every evening since March 31, an all-night protest has taken place. In the planning is another strike of the metro for June 10 (on the occasion of the opening of the Euro soccer championship, hosted this year by France) and a follow-up “National strike day” on June 14.
(Thursday is also “National strike day” so feel free to join in!) Friday, the airports will steal the headlines with a 3-day strike. (In France, that doesn’t mean a 30 minute-gotcha!, it will be days…) Then, Thursday June 2, the Parisian metro and regional train network will strike, again unlimited. Now this week: Tuesday, 7 pm, the mid- and long-distance trains will strike for an unlimited amount of time. (Lights were still on in the attached convenience stores, so, luckily, Slurpie access was not affected.) That means no more gas (petrol) being produced, oil transporters lined up outside the ports and, for the rest of us, effectively, no more gas available at the majority of gas stations. But this week promises to be the armegeddon of French striking, a week for the books (which could turn into 2 or 3 weeks, conditions permitting).įirst, if you keep yourself regularly informed of the French political environment or if you have found yourself sitting in a ridiculously long line at a French gas station recently, you may already know that the oil refineries have been blocked for about a week and a half. True, various factions of workers tend to strike fairly regularly. But then the French went on strike, and that’s way more interesting. AUSTRIA' ScH 15? BELGIUM Fr 28 DENMARK Kr 5.00 FRANCE Fr 4j GERMANY DM 2.0 ITALY L 800 NETHERLANDS R 2.0 NORWAY Kr 6.00 PORTUGAL fee 45 SPAIN Pta 70 SWEDEN Kr 5.00 SWITZHILAND Fr 2.I had intended to lead this posting with a debunking of myths surrounding full-time parenting and maintaining an online surplus survival guide.
Full text of " Financial Times, 1980, UK, English"