France braces for mass strike
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AFP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 29, 2009 00:00
PARIS - France is bracing for massive disruption to transport and public services ahead of "Black Thursday," its first major strike triggered by the global financial crisis.
All the country's main trade unions have called for their members to stay away from work to take part in large-scale street protests against President Nicolas Sarkozy's government. Ahead of a national strike, Socialist Party called Tuesday a no confidence motion against the government's economic policies, but Sarkozy’s parliamentary allies easily defeated the motion.
Stimulus package
With businesses failing and unemployment mounting, many workers fear they will be made to pay the price for a crisis they blame on the greed of bankers and a failure in market capitalism. Sarkozy, who came to power 20 months ago promising to cut taxes and trim France's public administration, has announced a 26 billion euro ($34 billion) industrial stimulus package. But he has also set aside 360 billion euros to underwrite banks and has signalled he intends to press ahead with most planned reforms to shake up the public sector and liberalize the labor market.
Paris has been careful in its approach to the protests, striking a conciliatory tone and postponing reforms to secondary education, which could have provoked teens to join the marchers. But some of the president's right-wing allies have spoken out. Laurence Parisot, the head of the French employers' federation MEDEF, attacked the strike movement as the wrong answer to the crisis.
Stimulus package
With businesses failing and unemployment mounting, many workers fear they will be made to pay the price for a crisis they blame on the greed of bankers and a failure in market capitalism. Sarkozy, who came to power 20 months ago promising to cut taxes and trim France's public administration, has announced a 26 billion euro ($34 billion) industrial stimulus package. But he has also set aside 360 billion euros to underwrite banks and has signalled he intends to press ahead with most planned reforms to shake up the public sector and liberalize the labor market.
Paris has been careful in its approach to the protests, striking a conciliatory tone and postponing reforms to secondary education, which could have provoked teens to join the marchers. But some of the president's right-wing allies have spoken out. Laurence Parisot, the head of the French employers' federation MEDEF, attacked the strike movement as the wrong answer to the crisis.