French strike
No money, no sales
By G. Dunkel
The drivers in France who transport money to and from
banks, stores and ATM machines have been on strike. They want
a solid raise and danger pay.
So far this year five drivers have been killed by robbers
using .50-caliber machine guns or rocket launchers.
Drivers have set up a few picket lines outside of banks
that were trying to use scabs or soldiers to move the cash.
When a local newspaper made a lot of fuss about motorists not
being able to pay their tolls because of the job action,
strikers seized the tollbooths and waved motorists
through.
The strikers have solid popular support.
A capitalist economy needs money to function. The drivers
only control part of the money supply. Checks, credit cards,
pre-paid debit cards--alternative forms of money besides
cash--have let the French economy get by despite the strike,
but the squeeze on the amount of money available has
restricted sales. Some stores report as much as a 25 percent
drop in sales. Others claim no perceptible drop.
The government appointed a special mediator, who is trying
to get the workers and the bosses together.
The bosses have made it clear that they won't settle
unless the government picks up a significant part of the
cost.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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