3 Responses to “Fallacies About the Strikes” »»

1. Tom Storer
   Comment by Tom Storer | 10/28/10 at 3:03 pm

   One fascinating difference between the Americans and the French is that where many Americans are possessed of an angry suspicion, bordering on paranoia, that government has a secret agenda to control and intervene more and more in the lives of the citizens, the French have precisely the same feeling, but fear instead that government has a secret agenda to control and intervene LESS AND LESS in the lives of the citizens. This, they feel, will leave ordinary folks unprotected against the rapacity of an unsentimental and undemocratic globalized private sector, as well as pitting citoyen against citoyen in ruthless economic competition.

   One might feel that both the Americans (through party-endorsed or at least party-coopted movements) and the French (through union-driven movements) are failing to be realistic and risk shooting themselves in the foot, but in defense of the French, it’s actually somewhat to their credit that many of those supporting the strike are reacting in favor not of their personal interests but of what they see as the interests of French society as a whole, since retirement reform is viewed as a symbol of a drift toward economic liberalism that, in their view, threatens two pillars of the République: equality and fraternity.

   Meanwhile, scapegoating of immigrants proceeds apace on both sides of the Atlantic.

2. joepaff
   Comment by joepaff | 10/31/10 at 11:11 am

   Concerning “False False False” and French strikers over pensions. The Paris Blog is full of venom and short of facts. To earn a full pension requires 40 years of full employment–a condition harder and harder to achieve. Many young people are supported until 30 when they finally get a real job and will retire at 70. The French worker is more productive (fact) than the German worker and France has a higher birth rate than Germany. Read “Three Cheers for French Strikers” by Alexander Cockburn in
   Counterpunch –on line–for full discussion and many facts.

3. Laurel Zuckerman
   Comment by Laurel Zuckerman | 10/31/10 at 4:59 pm

   @Tom, JoePass, thanks for the comments.
   While normal private sector and many public sector workers must work 40 (soon 41) years, the fact is that beneficiaries of the REGIMES SPECIAUX (special pensions) do not. EDF, GDF, RATP and SNCF workers (that electricity, gaz, trains and metros) only have to work 37.5 years to receive full pensions. Train drivers, for example, can retire with FULL benefits between 50 and 55/57 years old.

   In addition to working less years and retiring younger, they pay a lower percentage of their salaries into their pension funds and benefit from a much more advantageous calculation of pensions. (Last six months instead of average of 20 some years–with a tradition of large salary increases during this time).

   This is, in fact, the great untold story of the anti-pension reform strikes. The people blocking France are the ones with the best pension deals, not the worst.

   Only 8% of French people belong to unions, which is exceptionally low.
   The unions’ power resides in its ability to mobilize a few key sectors to paralyze the country. This threat has resulted in these sectors being able to negociate highly advantageous special pension agreements that are paid for by other workers who do not have this power.

   The burden of financing pensions is not equally shared in France, and the unions are doing their best to keep it this way.

   You can verify this by looking at the régimes spéciaux for the industries involved.

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