The French Workers Strike :: Herbert I. London

On January 29^th, 2009 Paris came to a halt. The Metro wasn't running, the garbage was not collected, the Louvre was closed and thousands of union members assembled in front of the Galleries Lafayette for a march expressing worker discontent with the Sarkozy government. Of course this nation-wide strike and march are very French, but this time the level of economic unease cuts across class and ethnicity.

The eight largest unions have called on the government to make employment (read: guaranteed employment) its highest priority and to bolster household purchasing power.

"Everybody knows we are living through a worldwide crisis of the like that hasn't been seen for 70 years," said Bernaid Thibault, head of the CGT union. But he adds, "Wage earners had nothing to do with the creation of the crisis and we can't accept that workers are the only ones to suffer the consequences."

Of course, workers aren't the only ones to suffer the consequences, but subdued rhetoric isn't appropriate at a union rally. Yet the public appears to be behind the strike despite the fact that services are being disrupted.

Faced with the expectation that the French economy will contract by two percent this year, Sarkozy announced a 26 billion euro stimulus plan. Needless to say, the left attacked the plan as an effort to stabilize the banking industry and reward profligate money managers. The leader of the Socialist opposition party has proposed an alternative 50 billion euro plan aimed at providing cash for low income workers and increasing the spending on public housing.

In France, the majority party and the minority parties all embrace socialism of one kind or another. The banks are dominated by the public sector, and in most industries the government's progressive tax structure militates against "excessive profit" (i.e. what bureaucrats deem appropriate).

From the Legislature to the streets, the French are obsessed with income inequality. At the union rally one speaker after another denounced the "unfair" income of some and the lowly wages of others, primarily, of course public service employees who encompass most of those on strike. That market conditions may determine the price of labor or that productive employees deserve more than unproductive ones are arguments that never entered public discourse.

Is it any wonder French dirigist views stifle economic growth? Clearly the French people love their month summer vacation and the cradle to grave security the government provides, even if the country cannot afford these amenities. Even more insidious are the growing job guarantees that legislative diktat has imposed on the employment market. It hasn't occurred to anyone in authority that if you can't fire, you can't hire. The French employment pool is stagnant, with guaranteed service the equivalent of tenure in the Academy.

The union march proceeds past the Opera House. Members of the gendarmerie are mildly amused at the overheated rhetoric, but are largely sympathetic to their confreres in the municipal workforce. It is another day and another strike. Sarkozy contends that the French are so accustomed to these marches that no one notices them. Well, this one is noticed, in part because so many have been adversely affected by the downturn in the economy.

But life goes on as elegant women parade on the Champs Elysees carrying Fendi bags and wearing Chanel suits. However, this may not go on forever and, despite the reflexive quasi-Marxist rhetoric at the rally, there is the foreshadowing of something sinister in the air. Could a deep recession be emerging, one that affects worker and banker alike, and one, I might add, that calls into question the very socialist assumptions the French have embraced over the last half century? It is too soon to say, but I would guess the French may argue, in the not too distant future, we can no longer afford what we are accustomed to having.

receive the latest by email: subscribe to herbert i. london's free mailing list