Millions strike in France and Greece

Three million French workers walked out in a one-day general strike Sept. 23 to keep retirement at age 60 and marched in 237 demonstrations throughout the country. There were significantly more people out than in a Sept. 7 protest on the same issue.

French Prime Minister François Fillon said that though he respected the rights of the French citizens to protest, his government will not renounce extending the number of years people have to work.

All the major union confederations in France, which have been solidly united in protecting the current retirement system, answered Fillon by calling for two new actions.

One is for Oct. 2 with demonstrations and protests scheduled; the other on Oct. 12 will be for strike actions.

On Sept. 24, the day after the French strike, Greek truck drivers attacked trucks crossing a picket line at the main Greek port of Piraeus and fought with the cops protecting the scabs. Under tremendous pressure from the big banks and the European Union, the Greek government has abolished license restrictions for truck drivers. This means that the permit for transporting goods for which the current truckers paid $380,000 is now worthless.

The actions by the truck drivers basically shut down exports and imports throughout Greece and have been going on since Sept. 13. Gasoline is still available but supplies on some of the Aegean islands and areas like Thessalonika are running low.

Other workers are also protesting with and alongside the truckers.