------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the June 5, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
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.] - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. 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