1.4 million workers march to defend benefits

The third general strike in France this year, on March 10, was the biggest so far. Some 1.4 million people took part in about 150 demonstrations throughout France, according to the General Confederation of Workers (CGT), one of the trade union confederations involved. Hundreds of strikes occurred in both the private and the public sector.

Most public transportation did not run or was extremely reduced. Banks, schools, daycare centers and post offices were closed. Only long-distance flights were allowed to land since the air traffic controllers were on strike.

A headline of the right-wing newspaper Le Figaro summed it up: “France paralyzed.”

According to public opinion polls, 66 percent of the French people supported the aims of the strike, even if the effects inconvenienced their life to some degree. They told the pollsters that they felt the strikers and demonstrators were protecting their interests— by defending French workers’ rights to retirement at age 62, a 35-hour work week, six-weeks paid vacation a year and affordable medical care.

A sign near the lead banner in Mar seilles summed up the unions’ demands: “Less work, more pay.” This demand is in direct contradiction to the proposal of French President Jacques Chirac: “To make more, work more.”

France has a number of national trade union confederations, most connected to political parties, and all but one participated in the general strike. They had various concerns, such as creating jobs, since France’s unemployment rate is over 10 percent; preserving the 35-hour work week, which French workers won in the last major strike wave; protecting retirement at age 62 and medical insurance; and reversing the restructuring of education, which will mean the loss of 50,000 jobs.

But the unions came together over a single demand: preserve the purchasing power of French workers. Trade union leaders speaking to the media said that what brought large numbers of private sector workers out into the streets were the extraordinary profits of French firms.

While profits are at record levels, hiring is flat, with a number of layoffs. In the private sector, starting salaries are hovering around the minimum wage and generally speaking, workers’ salaries are set as a multiple of the minimum wage. The bosses have refused to come to the bargaining table over wages, though it appears that the government will apply some pressure.

For workers in the public sector, wages have also stagnated. It appears that talks will soon start.

France is used to “hot” springs—May 1968, when the whole state tottered, was the hottest of recent memory. The current situation, while raising its specter, is so far not nearly as tense. But a contentious winter often results in a hot spring.

The French political establishment has scheduled a vote on the European Union’s constitution May 29. The unions are debating how to take advantage of this vote, along with considering other tactics.

But everyone in France, both in the ruling class and the workers’ movement, considers March 10 a big success for labor.