French on strike - again

[F14]

Looks like the French public service unions have called out their workers again.

Little bit of info at the Easyjet website and the link is the general notam

http://storage.canalblog.com/54/72/418791/69022413.pdf

Another long day for us - again :mad:

[F14]

From CFMU website tactical update:-

LFRR

Few regulations applied in Brest due to the French strike, just 4 sectors available from 1800 UTC. Very heavy delays expected, more than 3 hs average.
T9 route is available to avoid LFRR and LFBB airspace, providing aircraft are appopriately equipped. Regulations are applied for T9 both nortbound and southbound at limited rates.
Additional RRPs will be send when available. Further updates will be issued as soon as we have them.

[beamer]

They won the damned quarter-final, what more do they want - merde:=

[pax britanica]

What more do they want?

What they want in common with most of France is not to have their jobs and life style threatened by corrupt and dishonest management seeking to line their pockets at the expense of the organsiation and its staff. Unlike the Uk they are prepared to do something about it -irritating and inconvenient as it can be , especialy for a frequent travelelr there like myself.

[Capetonian]

What they want is for public sector workers (employees would be a more accurate word), which I think is over 30% of the workforce in France, to be able to retire even younger, on even higher pensions, and to work less hours to achive all this. They don't seem to realise that it doesn't add up. Meantime they don't give a toss how much they inconvenience and piss off the public.

Right now, I am sitting waiting for a flight which is delayed due to the ATC restrictions in France today.

[Fiero88]

Only agree partly with your statement B738DRIVER.
Its an outrage to see that only the very best paid civil servants are always going on strike being railway employees and ATC.
Am living here for a good 12 years and many of my flights and train trips have been spoiled by strikes. Furthermore, check the retirement ages of these both groups!

Regarding the social walfare system I do agree with you but don't trust the financial bookkeeping system here. Something is wrong when looking at the expenses versus countries income

[wiggy]

Have to agree with Fiero88, there are increasing numbers of the French workforce who work in the private sector and who are getting well and truly hacked off with this. Listening to various news reports here and reading some of today's papers I think patience is in short supply. The right to strike may well be a right here but many now seem to feel it is a right that is being exercised far too often...never mind, it'll all stop when it starts raining.

[Levraimatt]

Being French, and working in Colombia, I can only support those who fight for hard earned benefits. This makes the difference between my country and Colombia where people do accept absolutely everything and anything to keep their job.

[aterpster]

Capetonian:

What they want is for public sector workers (employees would be a more accurate word), which I think is over 30% of the workforce in France, to be able to retire even younger, on even higher pensions, and to work less hours to achive all this. They don't seem to realise that it doesn't add up. Meantime they don't give a toss how much they inconvenience and piss off the public.

It is even worse in many states in the U.S. The public-sector employee unions have figured out that their only remaining power is with these unions that are funded by disenfranchised taxpayers. These unions cozy up to the more liberal "leaders" by stuffing campaing coffers full of union money.

[On the beach]

But on the plus side, it's beautifully quiet here in Northern Brittany.

If they are still on strike on Saturday it will be even better as we'll be able to hear the groans and moans as they get trounced by the Welsh in Auckland.

Maybe all the French controllers are in Auckland!!!! :E

[merlinxx]

I'm with you there, though the strike is a bit late, should've been in May/June to realy screw up the Brit IT traffic as in the early 70s.

Yup we Taffia may make it Sat:ok:

[Hussar 54]

CAPETONIAN - I always enjoy your frequent and often humourous posts here, although this time I have a different take on your view of the Land of Wine and Cheese...

My ex-LHS English neighbour always says that rugby isn't the national sport in France - going on strike is actually the national sport....And he insists that instead of ending the news with tomorrow's weather forecast, complete with a map of France scattered with graphics of clouds, sun, rain, etc, it would be much more useful for everyone if there was a map of France complete with graphics of trains, factories, schools, etc, and we were told who would be on strike tomorrow, and where....And if there's enough time, perhaps an explanation why....

There's actually some truth to this, but each to his own opinion and having lived here on-and-off for the past 35 years or so, I quite admire the French attitude to economics in the modern world....France is, after all, the last communist country in Europe with its massive publically and semi-publically owned conglomerates and its centrally planned economy....

As for the national sport, whether it's unions striking en masse against the government, or individual unions striking against specific companies, you'd have to say that most of the time these strikes seem to eventually work in the favour of the strikers....

And the strikes aren't just limited to manual workers - almost everyone joins in whatever their social status. The result is that middle and higher income professionals in France probably are able to have and keep hold of the best standard of living in Europe....It's simply down to the fact that they don't see going on strike as being ' beneath ' them or as being anti-social if going on strike is what is required to keep what they've worked hard to get....

In our business, Air France employees have never been afraid to threaten or call a strike the past 25+years whether against the government or their management, and have managed to maintain what are probably still the best T&C's in Europe.

Think about the constant stream of posts here on pprune from other countries, with crews rightly complaining about the constant erosion of their T&C's by management....Compare that to France - no P2F in French owned companies; Easy and Ryanair forced to give their French based staff a ' proper ' contract and not a half-baked now-you've-got-job, now-you-haven't-got-a-job contracts ; constantly changing legislation to make sure Air France will always play downhill on the unlevel playing surface which is French aviation ; etc, etc....All of which has been ' won ' by fairly regular, union backed threats of strike action by the many and various unions inside Air France....

As a perfect and most recent example of what I'm talking about, have a root around here on pprune for a look at the AF cabin crews T&C's compared to those ' enjoyed ' by the same neighbour's daughter who recently got a job on BA's Mixed Fleet....

So I actually quite appreciate the French attitude of ' Sorry you have been inconvenienced today - but if I just accept without resistence the erosion of my T&C's then I'll be inconvenienced for the rest of my life, not just for one day ' because there were times in the past when I got the benefits from this dysfunctional economic system, and as I get ever so closer to compulsory retirement, I might be able to go through it with a little bit more of the money I worked bloody hard to put together the past 35 years....