France’s big general strike hobbles services
Postal services across France were disrupted last weeks as tens of thousands of La Poste workers joined a nationwide strike estimated to have brought at least one million people on to the streets in protest at government handling of the economic crisis.
About 28% of La Poste’s 300,000 staff took strike action on Thursday in response to calls from the postal unions FO, CFTC, PTT-Sud, CGT and CFDT, according to La Poste, French media reported. Unions claimed the turnout was about 40%. About 100 post offices across the country remained closed.
Unions said that up to 2.5 million workers joined 195 separate actions across the country yesterday. French police estimated the numbers at about one million. Some of the protests descended into clashes between policy and protestors. Transportation services, schools and other public services were all affected by the mass demonstrations.
The protests were aimed at expressing public dissatisfaction with the way President Sarkozy is handling the economic crisis, rising unemployment and falling purchasing power.
