Our French friends and colleagues take strikes as a fact of life. They’re not really annoyed by it, although in general it seems that the tolerance for striking is diminishing in France. I always have found it a rather irritating way of negotiating. I understand that it has been a very powerfull weapon in France, with the unions getting mostly what they want out of it. But what are the costs to the rest of society? And how long will people put up with being victimized? In the Netherlands some of the unions are transforming their ways already. They have public friendly actions. Related to public transport, that would mean operating as usual, but giving the public a free ride (opening gates, no ticket control). This way, the action hurts where you want it to hurt, without the collateral damage.

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