05 October 2005 Blog Home : October 2005 : Permalink
Unions are especially angry about labor laws passed by the center-right government in August, which make it easier for small companies to hire and fire workers.
It is interesting that surveys report that 60+% of French people "support" the strike but I wonder who the ~30% of people who disagreed with the strike were. Something tells me that these people are the private sector workers and bosses who pay for the rest of the layabouts - certainly within my acquaintaces, those who actually work in the private sector are far far less tolerant of the state than those who are either retired, unemployed or government "workers" and certainly it is true that the strikes were organized by the communists.Postal worker, Herve Grohan, is unconvinced by Mr de Villepin's arguments that the French state must tighten its belt and that the country is living beyond its means.
He disagrees strongly with the government's move to make it easier to hire and fire workers at smaller companies, even though the changes will not affect him directly.
Mr Grohan, 32, also believes higher wages in the public sector would stimulate spending and help create new jobs.
"I know the government doesn't have a lot of money, but if they paid people more, the money would be used and would go back into the economy."
PS Vodkapundit has similar thoughts