Transport and other public workers in France were just returning to work in the fourth week of November 2007, after more than ten tenacious days of strikes to defend their rights.

Rail and other transport workers went on strike from November 13, 2007, to protest against government plans to end retirement benefits which they had won decades ago after much struggle and sacrifice. They were joined by Paris Metro workers, and supported by gas and electricity workers. Teachers and students too, went on strike, blocking railway stations and 48 of the country’s 85 university campuses, to protest against the Sarkozy governments’ plan to privatise the country’s top universities. Civil servants went on a massive strike on 20th November 2007, and magistrates too went on strike to protest against the governments’ plan to shut down some court houses and “overhaul” the judicial system.

The workers and youth of France have a proud history of fighting for their rights. In 1995, strikes and demonstrations forced Prime Minister Alain Juppe to abandon changes to the pension system and other austerity measures imposed in the run-up to European monetary union. Last year, students and workers came out on the streets to successfully scuttle a proposed law enacted by Dominique de Villepin’s government which would have allowed employers to sack anyone under 26 within the first two years of their employment. The ruling circles of France however campaigned heavily to bring in Nicholas Sarkozy as the Prime Minister promising to “reform” the system and make it more “efficient”. One of his election slogans was “Work more to earn more”. While the working people all over the globe are in fact working more, even the bourgeois media is forced to concede that the rising global prices of food and fuel means they do not get the benefits of those extra hours.

As we go to the press, most of the unions have called off their strikes upon the governments’ offer to negotiate, vowing however to return to strike if the talks do not yield the desired result.