Thursday 19th Jan - General Strike throughout France

[Char]

As per title, there's going to be a general strike throughout France on Thursday so I shall be staying at home and hoping they don't turn the leccie off.

https://www.lindependant.fr/2023/01/16/ ... 929252.php

[demi]

Grandchildren will be out of school so lucky Mamie isn't on strike!

[Char]

I get a lay in because I don't have to get up to our G/d ready for school.

[Blaze]

A quiet day forecast ??

[curtis]

I don't think so . Don't forget all the manifs.

[RobertArthur]

They certainly do like some action and manifs from time to time. The French soul: highly inflammable. Julius Caesar already knew: handle with care. In his book about the 'Gallic War' there is also food for thought for PM Olaf Scholz.

Reading recommendations: paragraph 5 for us, paragraphs 6-12 for Berlin. Mr. Scholz, please find and replace "Germans", read instead the word "Russians".

[Blaze]

Plenty of manifs in Brittany ....
It's tough for the French isn't it, 35 hour week for most, retirement at 62, pension a percentage of the last annual salary .....

[curtis]

While everybody marched in the cold we stayed warm at home. Today was the day for the annual lunch given by the town for those of a certain age. There is a choice of a a huge gathering in the salle Aliénor d'Aquitaine or the meal delivered to the house.
With friends we had our meals chez nous. Six french and me. Great fun and not a bad meal with wine included. It turned into a very pleasant afternoon together. It has now got dark and started to snow.

[exile]

No signs of anything here except perhaps that the carparks in the town centre and at the supermarket were rather empty - but that could equally be because of the weather.

[Biloute]

Plenty of manifs in Brittany ....
It's tough for the French isn't it, 35 hour week for most, retirement at 62, pension a percentage of the last annual salary .....

You're right, 35 hours is not much ! But let's not forget that the passage from 65 to 60 years and to 35 hours a week were made by Mitterand to hide the increase in unemployment... When I started to work, it was 45 hours but, at that time, it was almost full employment !
Our pension system is a Ponzi scheme collapsing due to mechanization. In the 1960s, there were 4 workers for 1 retiree. Today it is only 1.7. In addition, life expectancy has increased and pensioners have their pension longer. It might be time to make the robots contribute: they are, after all, workers too... And also to remanufacture in France.
What you say for the calculation of the pension is incorrect: it is a percentage of the salaries of the last 6 months for civil servants and on the average of the best 25 years for the private sector. (this is why civil servants often have a nice raise 6 months before retiring...).
I think Thursday's strike was just a formation lap: the protests and blockages are likely to continue because Macron is going to impose his reform. We'll see...