PARIS — In the latest expression of discontent over government austerity moves across Europe, French transport workers struck for the second straight day on Wednesday, while refineries in the country remained blocked as workers continued to protest plans to reform the country’s pension system. þþSeveral labor groups — including those representing the national rail and Paris public transport workers — voted Tuesday night to extend their walkouts at least through Wednesday, and unions called for another day of demonstrations on Saturday. The transport disruptions Wednesday appeared less severe than a day earlier although commuter trains into and out of Paris continued at a diminished service. In a statement, the rail operator S.N.C.F. said that 24.6 percent of its staff were on strike Wednesday against 40.4 percent Tuesday. þþEric Heraud, a spokesman for the French civil aviation authority said, that air traffic had returned to normal at the main Paris airports as controllers, Air France staff and support personnel returned to work. þþBut industrial action continued at refineries in France, leading to fears of possible fuel shortages. News reports in some regions suggested there had been some , with consumers eager to fill up their cars in case the industrial action continues. þþThe coordinator for the C.G.T. union at the oil group Total, Charles Foulard, said that strikes were continuing in 11 of 13 refineries nationwide. He said that production was running at about 10 percent of normal levels. Workers will vote daily on whether to maintain the action, he said. þþHe also confirmed that the strike at the port of Marseille’s Fos and Lavera oil terminals, which has blocked the entry of crude oil to France through the port, was continuing. It has been running for almost three weeks. þþTens of thousands of transit and energy workers, teachers and civil servants took to the streets on Tuesday, continuing waves of social unrest across Europe in recent months, with protesters in Spain, Belgium, Greece and Ireland voicing their anger as governments seek to rein in exploding deficits that threaten to undermine their sovereign credit ratings, exacerbating national budget woes. þþUnion officials claimed a nationwide turnout of more than 3.5 million people, an increase of 20 percent from the previous strike on Sept. 23, while the French Interior Ministry put the figure closer to 1.23 million, up from just under a million in the last strike. In Paris, the police counted 89,000 protesters, up from 75,000 previously. þþ“The protest is not weakening, but we can’t be sure it will grow,” Éric Woerth, the labor minister who has spearheaded the new measures, told France 3 television. “The government’s determination is total.” þþBut analysts remained skeptical that the strikes would secure anything more than superficial changes to the proposed changes, which President Nicolas Sarkozy has made a cornerstone of his fiscal policy. þþ“Everyone admits that things can’t continue like this,” said François Vergne, a labor lawyer in the Paris office of the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. “Other countries have adapted their laws and there is a resigned consensus that retirement at 60 is no longer sustainable.” þþLate Monday, the upper house of the legislature voted to raise the age of retirement with a full pension to 67 from 65, having already agreed to increase the minimum legal retirement age to 62 from 60. Senators from the opposition Socialist Party still hope to slow full adoption of the package through amendments. þþLast month the lower house voted to raise the minimum pension age to 62. þþTourists visiting Paris on Tuesday found many of the city’s monuments and museums shuttered for at least part of the day, including the Eiffel Tower, which reopened Wednesday.. þþThe marches across the country on Tuesday were largely peaceful. However, in the northern city of Caen, news reports said riot police officers had fired tear gas at protesters who had gathered to lob eggs, tomatoes and firecrackers at the local headquarters of the national business lobby, Medef. Garbage cans were also set ablaze. þþWhile some of the more radical unions have urged unlimited general strikes, leaders of the main trades councils have sought to avoid the kind of prolonged action that has backfired with the public in the past. François Chérèque, secretary general of the Confédération Française Democratique du Travail, has stressed that he has not called for general strikes, leaving it instead to workers to vote day-to-day at the union chapter level. þþThe go-softly approach appears to have bolstered public sympathy for the strikers. According to a poll conducted Monday by the IFOP polling institute and published Tuesday in France Soir, 53 percent of French surveyed said they “trusted the unions,” up sharply from 43 percent in a similar survey conducted in June. Forty-seven percent polled said they “did not trust trade unions,” down from 57 percent in June. The survey was conducted on Oct. 8 and 9, with 955 people aged 18 and over contacted by telephone. þþ“People have internalized the idea that pension reforms are necessary,” said Frédéric Dabi, director of opinion research at IFOP. “But there is clearly still the idea that the unions can help sway the balance.” þþFaced with widespread anger, Mr. Sarkozy has offered some concessions — for example, last week he proposed softening the rules for women in their 50s who had earlier halted work to bring up at least three children, allowing them to receive full pensions at 65. The government said this would cost about $4.8 billion and would be financed by higher capital gains tax on property sales. þþUnions have described the offer as insufficient and had hoped that the fresh action this week would force the government back to the bargaining table. þþThe French media have portrayed the current showdown over pension reform as a defining moment for Mr. Sarkozy that could decide his fate in presidential elections in 2012. Le Monde this week described it as a turning point. “Failure will sink him,” the newspaper wrote. þþBut some observers said that could be said of the country’s labor movement. þþWhile France’s trade union leaders did manage to extract some “face-saving alterations” to the reform, the core aspect — pushing back the retirement age by two years — will probably not be affected by the protests, said Paul Vallet, a professor of history and political science at the Institut d’Études Politiques in Paris. þþ“In the end, even if people are marching, there is a broad resignation that this is going to happen anyway,” Mr. Vallet said. þþThe same could be seen in recent protests elsewhere on the Continent: When Spanish union leaders called for coordinated demonstrations throughout Europe at the end of last month, the result was little more than scattered unrest and protest. þþ
Source: NY Times
