1 To protest the arrest of a nut sheep farmer.
2 Because out of work actors have to work 504 hours a year to get a years worth of unemployment.
PLEASE do not ask me to explain (I cannot), but these are the correct answers to your question.
July 15, 2003 A REGIONAL group of performing artists has threatened to interrupt the Tour de France cycling race if the government does not abandon a plan to cut their unemployment benefits.
Group spokesman Laurent Eyraud issued what he called a "solemn appeal" to President Jacques Chirac to maintain the benefits that French performers, theatre workers and others still enjoy.
If Chirac does not comply, "the Tour will not come to Paris," Eyraud told France 2 television.
The Tour de France, cycling's premier race, is scheduled to end in Paris on July 27.
The remarks by Eyraud, who represents a group of performers based in the Haute-Alps region, were immediately disavowed by the national Communist-backed CGT union, which has spearheaded the strikes.
Protests and work stoppages have forced the cancellation of prestigious festivals and cultural events across France this summer.
"He (Eyraud) explained the position of the contract workers very well, the agony of professionals," said CGT spokesman Claude Michel, "But he then got out of control by saying that he wanted to block the Tour."
Directors of the Tour de France declined to comment on the threat.
France has a unique unemployment fund for artists that takes into account their downtime between shows. But the fund has a $US950 million ($1.45 billion) shortfall, and Medef, the powerful business federation that helps run the system, is pushing for change.
The group wants to reduce the number of performers who receive benefits.
And now for my comments... 1) France has a unique unemployment fund for artists that takes into account their downtime between shows.
Hey, our artists here in America have have their own between gig funding system; it's called WAITING TABLES!!!!! Maybe if Frenchie hadn't pissed off the American tourist so effing bad their brie bistros might be doing enough business to warrant hiring a few of these lazy-assed, B O infested, non-leg shaving, commie bastards.
2) Personnel working in the performing arts currently have to work 507 hours a year to qualify for 12 months of unemployment pay.
Under the new proposal, they would have to work 507 hours over 10.5 months to win benefits for eight months.
As always, doing the math helps clarify everything:
OLD PROPOSAL: 507 hours (including their "downtime" as stated above) equals about 13 weeks or 3 months and a week assuming Ze French work a 40 hour week, which they don't. Ze French work a 32 hour week which would work out to 16 weeks or 4 months.
That means that under their old deal Ze French "arteest" had to work only 4 months (including "downtime") to qualify for a full years worth of unemployment benefits.
NEW PROPOSAL: 507 hours over 10.5 months works out to a work requirement of 12 hours per week (including downtime). Ya do this, ya gets 8 months of paid vacation, er, I mean unemployment benefits.
AND THEY"RE THREATING TO STOP THE TOUR OVER THIS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Yet another reason I hate Ze French.
Hmmmmm,perhaps it's because Socialists enjoy hindering individual creative success.
I can answer that question! Leftists want to stop competition on all levels of Society. Leftists want to make everyone equal, and no one individual to have more than another. In other words, leftists want Communism. Leftists refuse to recognize Communism as a failed form of government. Leftists think that "if they had just done ________ differently, then it would have worked."