The working-class history of the French Republic
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- Strikes Grow in France
- By Nat London, the Militant, 12 April 1995. A
strike wave in France, taking place in the midst of the
presidential election campaign, continues to shake up
politics here. Walkouts are now spreading among postal,
railroad, bus, and subway workers as well as to the
state-run airline, Air Inter.
- French strike highlights capitalist
scheme
- By William Pomeroy, People's Weekly
World, 6 January 1996. The great wave of strikes and
demonstrations that began in France during the last week of
November and continued until the week before Christmas in a
broader sense was aroused by the economic program being
implemented by the non-elected top bodies of the European
Union.
- French Workers Take to Streets, Disrupt Rail
Service
- By Craig R. Whiltney, New York Times, 26 May
1996. Thousands of workers took to the streets of Paris on
Thursday and others disrupted passenger train service to
demand a shorter workweek to reduce France's 11.8
percent unemployment rate, in defiance of government efforts
to cut its budget.
- French strike shakes right-wing
government
- By Fred Gaboury, People's Weekly World, 7
December 1996. Solidarity and militancy paid off on Nov. 29
when a 12-day strike by French truck drivers won an
unprecedented agreement.
- Hundreds of Unarmed Employees Occupy French
Bank
- By Lara Marlowe, Irish Times, 20 January
1997. Bank employees burst into a meeting of the bank's
directors and announced that no one could leave until the
governor came in person. At least 1,800 of 3,300 jobs at the
CFF will be lost if the ailing bank is ceded to the rival
Credit Immobilier is passed by the French Assembly next
month.
- Hostile take-over continues at Paris
bank
- Workers World, 6 February 1997. Workers
occupying the Credit Fonciers bank in Paris vowed to
continue their take-over until the government scraps its
plan to spin off part of the bank's operations and lay
off workers.
- Workers keep up the pressure
- By G. Dunkel, Workers World, 2 October
1997. French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin campaigned on a
platform of 35 hours work for 39 hours pay. Now unions there
are pushing hard for the jobs, pay, working hours and
pensions Jospin promised.
- The French 35 hour week
- By Greg Oxley, 21 October 1997. The historic decision
introducing the 35 hour week without loss of pay represents
a major achievement for organized labour in France. The fact
the Jospin dealt a blow to the employers interests
immediately provoked a crisis within the CNPF.
- Blockades go up in France again
- By David Graves in Calais & Susannah Herbert in Paris,
The Daily Telegraph, 3 November 1997. Militant
French lorry drivers threatened to cause havoc to trade by
blockading Calais and the Channel tunnel last night as pay
talks failed.