Hundreds of thousands strike across France. Unions say everything is going up except wages.
About 270,000 joined 180 rallies outside Paris by early afternoon, an interior official said. A third of high schools were shut.
Hundreds of thousands of French workers walked off the job and into the streets Thursday, demanding higher wages and pensions and help with fuel and living costs, the Associated Press reported.
By early afternoon, about 270,000 people had joined 180 union rallies outside Paris, according to an official close to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, the AP reported. That count leaves out the capital, where a march was set to start from the Place de la République. Al Jazeera reported that organizers expected protests in 260 cities and towns.
Schools, trains and the Eiffel Tower
About a third of France's high schools were closed or unable to operate, some because teachers were on strike and some because students blocked them, according to the AP. Public transportation was heavily disrupted. Rail unions, including SUD-Rail, joined the action.
Fabien Villedieu, national secretary of SUD-Rail, told the AP that when the government, the head of the national rail company SNCF and "bosses in general are not reasonable," French workers "go on strike."
"Everything's going up except wages"
France's main unions laid out the problem in a joint statement: fuel, food, rent, gas and electricity are all rising, but wages and pensions are not. They warned the country is on the brink of recession and that layoff plans are multiplying. "Anger is immense," they said.
The movement started in September with a protest over staff shortages at a single high school southeast of Paris, then spread nationwide, the AP reported. Students want more school funding. Workers want better pay and pensions.
The government deployed 70,000 police officers, backed by armored vehicles, drones and helicopters, Nuñez said. The interior official said most rallies were peaceful but noted violence in Lyon, Nantes, Pau, Orléans, Rennes and Toulouse. Police have been criticized for injuring protesters with heavy-handed tactics, the AP reported.
What's next
Before Thursday, the government had been negotiating with unions. No new concessions had been reported by Thursday afternoon. France elects Macron's successor next spring, and Macron can't run again.
American workers know the squeeze: gas prices weighed on this week's midterm vote. Earlier this week, Germany's biggest union walked out at Audi and Mercedes over pay.
Sources
- French unions unite for nationwide strikes, piling pressure on Macron's government (Associated Press, via ABC News)
- Workers strike across France, hundreds of thousands expected to protest (Al Jazeera)
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