Tuesday, September 28, 2010

FRANCE IN TURMOIL - TRADE UNIONS IN REVOLT

Nicholas Sarkozy, it seems, is bent upon gaining 'popularity', the wrong way. Some rulers like that. Rather than attending to the welfare of their subjects and yearning for their love and appreciation, these rulers feed on their discontent, hatred and anger.
Last time I touched upon his ruthless torture and deportment of millions of Romas without any pangs of conscience.
Meanwhile he was also nursing and nurturing a most unpopular decision which was bound to affect millions and millions of French citizens. Under the pretext of saving the economy a double whammy was in store for them. Sarkozy along with his colleagues especially his Labour Minister Eric Woerth were preparing to plunge into a 'new venture' on the front of pension reforms. In the run-up to its introduction to the lower house of Parliament, millions estimtaed to be 2 million citizens took to the streets, organised protests, chanted slogans, called the bloke choice epithets and announced their decision to proceed along organising more and more protests and strikes, more vigorously several weeks ago. Amidst protests by Socialists and Communist leaders it has since been passed in the lower house. The decision to raise the retirement age was widely opposed across France, but the pension reforms bill is poised to be introduced in the Senate shortly amidst warnings of protests and strikes.
On October 2, the opposition leaders have given notice of organising more a vigorous protest rallies and on October 12, a nation-wide strike.
But Sarkozy, very notorious among French citizens for his stupidity and arrogance is obsessed with it, some people always prefer to be perverts, otherwise a ruler whose popularity shows downward curve would not have adopted unpopular measures inviting the wrath of his subjects.
What all the developed nation called France awaits for, what all repercussions, this nation has to undergo in the coming days is anybody's guess.
While Jacques Chirac, his predecessor was at the helm of affairs and Dominique De Villeppin the Prime Minister Sarkozy was the Interior Minister then, then too he was the most unpopular one, his xenophobic policies the reason then that time his ire turned against the Black-African emigrants living on the outskirts of life all of them poor and doing informal works to make both ends meet were forced to flee and as they had no other refuge came back that is another story but that action also provoked angry reactions world-wide.
Sorry, the pertinent point I was about to write about was not about this Sarkozy then too on unpopular decision was taken by the then Prime Minister Dominique De Villeppin blessed by Jacques Chirac, the then President enacting a policy of giving employment to the youth aged below 26 with a probation period of 2 years - could be called contract labour - actually the law was worse than that ie. at government's discretion an employee could be thrown out of job whenever the authorites deemed fit even before he completed the probation period.
The entire France rose up in protest and millions of French citizens took to the streets shaking the very foundation of the govt, initially adamant though, under peoples' relentless pressure the govt had to bow down to the demands of the citizens and the draconian law repealed.
Similarly if the employees cutting acorss institutions - Factories, railways, roads, schools, colleges, post-office, universities - are determined to force the Sarkozy govt repeal the law, the victory would be certainly of the suffering masses - be it Sarkozy, Louis XVI, Mary Antoinnette, even Hitler or Mussolini.

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