France braces for holiday misery as pension strike persists

AFP ^ | December 13, 2019 | Mariëtte Le Roux and Joseph Schmid

[C19fan]

French commuters endured a ninth day of public transport strikes Friday, with little relief expected in coming days as unions vow to keep up their protest against a pension overhaul through the holidays unless the government backs down.

Officials have said they are ready to negotiate, with Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer meeting teachers' representatives on Friday to try to stave off another day of class shutdowns.

"It was an intense and frank meeting... but we still need details, and maintain our call to strike on Tuesday," Stephane Crochet of the SE-Unsa teachers' union said.

[C19fan]

/src on/Do you hear the people sing? Singing a song of angry men? It is the music of a people Who will not be slaves again/src off/

I root for the Orleanists as the blast the socialist and Jacobin scum in Les Mis.

Look a the bright side, the barricades are not up.

[C19fan]

Might be a preview of what might happen in the US when the pension programs for public employees go belly up due to massive under-funding of ridiculous pensions.

[CatOwner]

The difference here is we have a much larger pool of private money to steal from compared to a socialistic country like France.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I haven’t followed the details of the French protests. Is this due to them cutting back pensions to keep the pension funds solvent? If a pension plan is not on a firm financial footing, eventually nobody will get their pensions.

[C19fan]

That and there are 42 different state supported pension plans. The people going on strike have great pensions compared to your average Jacques.

[GAgal]

Hope Macron and Trudeau reap what they sowed at NATO for publicly mocking Trump.

[zeugma]

The French have become extraordinarily complacent in their relative prosperity. If they think all those muslims they’ve imported into their very own no-go zones are going to support the French in their old age, they are sadly, mistaken. Most of those illiterate (in any language) leeches have never worked an honest day in their life.