Responding to Europe-wide cuts
French workers lead fight to defend pensions
By G. Dunkel
Hundreds of thousands of workers marched
through the streets of Paris May 25 to denounce the French
government's scheme to "reform" pension rights and take away
other hard-won benefits. The plan would force government
employees--about 25 percent of all French workers--to work
2-1/2 years more before they get a full pension.
The protest march from the Place de la Nation was so huge
that it was split into three sections. The last demonstrators
did not arrive at the final destination, the Place d'Italie in
the southern part of the city, until 10 p.m.
Unions that organized the march estimated that 600,000 to 1
million workers turned out, the ranks swelled by many teachers
and students. The government is also trying to restructure the
education system. In France the national government organizes
education.
Tens of thousands of workers marched in other big French
cities: Marseille, Avignon, Toulon, Toulouse, Nice and
Bordeaux.
On May 13, 2 million workers had rocked France with a strike
that drew its strength mainly from the public sector unions,
but with significant contingents from large private companies
like Danone, Renault, Thales, Air France, Alstom and Bouygues.
They also held demonstrations in 115 French cities, some larger
than those held in the same cities in 1995 and even in the
political tumult of 1968.
Workers flex their muscle
The government party, the Alliance for a Parliamentary
Majority (UMP), held a pro-reform rally in Paris on May 25. It
drew 1,000 people, according to police.
Given the relative size of the two rallies, French political
analysts doubt that Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin will
call a referendum on the retirement question any time soon.
Many workers in France believe that rather than risk a
referendum, Rafferin plans to hang tough and ram his reforms
through parliament, where the UMP holds a commanding
majority.
Rafferin has managed to get two major union confederations,
including the Democratic Confederation of French Workers
(CFDT), to agree to the changes in the retirement plan. The
CFDT, however, faces a major revolt of its local
affiliates--which endorsed, sponsored and participated in the
May 25 march.
In France, workers in the same jobs may choose which union
they will join. Thus different unions with different
leaderships may represent parts of the same work force. A
walkout of the entire work force of an enterprise requires an
agreement among all the unions.
If French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister
Raffarin are seeking a confrontation with the French union
movement, they might just get it.
Bernard Thibault, head of the General Confederation of
Workers (CGT), asked, "Is our rejection of this plan clear
enough?" With 700,000 members, the CGT is a major force,
especially among transportation workers.
Marc Blondel, head of the Workers Force (FO) union
confederation, has hinted that a general strike might force the
government to back down. He avoids using the words themselves,
telling reporters he is for "the amplification of the movement,
its generalization and coordination, for as long as it takes to
move the government."
Jean Collon, a schoolteacher from Parthenay, a town 250
miles from Paris, explained the current labor struggle to the
Irish Times on May 25. "Unfortunately," he said, "in France,
it's always a power struggle. We won't accept that one
class--big business--seizes all the wealth of the country. The
next few weeks will be hard. Chirac is going to have an
unpleasant Bastille Day; he'll have to give in."
Fighting for decent education
May 26 was the eighth day this year that the educational
system in France saw a national mobilization: Teachers and
staff from day care centers to universities walked out and shut
their institutions down. A new national poll shows that most of
the population supports the teachers' demands and their tactics
in defending their union rights, their retirement and the
educational system.
The unions representing workers in the national railroads,
along with the unions representing workers in the Paris Metro
and regional rail lines, filed notice that they will strike
June 2 and stay out until their demands are met. While the
government is not currently threatening their retirement plan
that lets operational workers retire at age 50 with 20 years'
service, these workers are walking out in solidarity with the
teachers.
In Perpignan, a city in southwestern France near the Spanish
border, the university is scheduled to be closed. Students
locked the gates and the doors even though final exams were
scheduled. One professor showed up and said, "You can't keep a
professor from his job." A student answered, "We certainly
can!" And they turned him, and the provost, away.
Air France and the air traffic controllers have scheduled a
renewable strike for May 27. The post office, unemployment
insurance, and sanitation workers have scheduled renewable
walkouts for the week starting May 26. A renewable strike means
the workers can hold a one-day strike, go back to work, and
then strike again later.
Raffarin is betting that he can win a confrontation with the
workers. In 1995 the government lost a similar bet.
Fightback underway across Western Europe
The struggle of workers to maintain benefits won decades ago
is not restricted to France.
All the members of the European Union are currently trying
to apply the decisions of the 2002 Barcelona summit. That
summit resulted in guidelines that include raising the average
retirement age by five years by the year 2010.
In Germany, some 90,000 unionists demonstrated throughout
the country on May 24 against Agenda 2010. Their pensions are
scheduled to decrease from 70 percent of salaries to 64 percent
by 2010. Unlike France, in which the government is
center-right, a Social Democratic-Green Party coalition is
directing the attack against the German working class.
Historically, the German union leadership is closely tied to
the Social Democrats. Now some of the unionists are accusing
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of betraying his election
promises. The unionists say that these government attacks along
with cuts in social benefits will destroy more jobs.
In Austria, a governing coalition of the right wing and the
extreme right is trying to increase retirement age from 60 to
65 while cutting benefits by 13 percent. A strike wave rose in
protest on May 6 and 200,000 workers demonstrated in Vienna on
May 13. More protests are expected if the government continues
to push through this program.
For three days, beginning June 1, heads of state of the
seven major imperialist countries and Russia--the G-8--will
meet in Evian, France, near the city of Geneva, Switzerland.
The G-8 meeting is expected to be the site of
anti-globalization and anti-war demonstrations. It will also
attract many European workers fighting to maintain their social
benefits.
Many of the benefits won by Europe's workers came into
effect in the years following World War II. There were strong
communist and socialist movements in many countries of western
Europe, where they had led the resistance to Nazi occupation.
The West European ruling classes were in direct competition
with the regimes that had taken over and expropriated private
industry and banks in Eastern Europe after the Soviet Red Army
defeated Hitler. Although these East European countries were
poor, social benefits for the workers were strong.
As part of the worldwide struggle against socialism that
came to be known as the Cold War, the West European capitalists
felt constrained to make social concessions to the workers at
home. Now, when there is no Soviet Union and no socialist camp
to the East, they feel the way is clear to take back those
concessions.
The U.S. imperialists are very aware of the current class
struggle in Europe. In many ways, it was Ronald Reagan and his
ally in Britain, Margaret Thatcher, who initiated the crusade
to cut government-funded social programs like health, education
and retirement benefits.
The recent anti-French campaign by the big corporate media
in the U.S., while it was ostensibly over France's refusal to
vote for a UN resolution endorsing the attack on Iraq, had
another side to it. After all, France was not alone in its
position. All but a handful of countries in the UN agreed. Why
single out France?
The official U.S. reaction went far beyond the usual
diplomatic signals of displeasure that capitalist governments
exchange with each other. It carried over into a demeaning of
French culture and French people, trying to instigate jingoism
in the population here. Was it a dress rehearsal for the future
demonizing of the working class in France--which is very
multinational, with millions of militant workers from the Arab
world and Africa? As the workers there go on strike by the
millions to protect their pensions and social benefits, workers
here may be greatly inspired. The boardroom bosses will let the
capitalist media know quite clearly that their job is to bash
the French.
John Catalinotto contributed to this article.
Reprinted from the June 5, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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