French strike will disrupt postal services
Postal services in France will again be seriously disrupted on 20 March due to a nationwide strike in a number of key industries.
Postal services in France will again be seriously disrupted on 20 March due to a nationwide strike in a number of key industries.
It follows the 29 January day of action that drew up to 2.5m people on to the streets.
French unions have called on workers to join a general strike and take part in official marches across the country. The action is in protest at the government’s economic policies and is designed to increase pressure on president Nicolas Sarkozy to take stronger measures against rising unemployment. About 75% of the population supports the strike, according to a survey.
Postal unions are using the strike to renew their criticism of the planned restructuring of La Poste into a limited company, although a partial privatisation now appears off the political agenda in France. The forthcoming draft law to restructure La Poste “is nothing other than the first step towards opening the capital to private shareholders”,” they claimed in a joint statement.
In addition, postal unions said that La Poste is only increasing wages for civil servants by 0.8% this year and employees can expect little more. “Now is the time to mobilise to demand real increases in salaries,” they declared. They also criticised changes to working practices, post office closures and “thousands of job losses”.
The unions are demanding a stop to job losses, a €300 increase in monthly salaries and a withdrawal of the plan to restructure La Poste into a limited company.
The strike will also severely hit the transport industry, including Air France flights, national rail operator SNCF and the Paris public transport authority. Other sectors likely to be impacted include health, education, communications and energy.
