Next week, if you live in Paris and have to go out of your home, you will face the galley, la galère.* The trains, metros, schools, ports, and just about everything else are going to be on strike, some for a day-- the 12th-- some for a week or longer. Here's a list so far:
--the French national trains, SNCF. Check their website before you try to go anywhere on a train next week. Their workers are called cheminots, a word you will soon learn, as the cheminots are on strike or threatening to strike a hundred times a year; the reason is essentially that they have a really good deal, negotiated back when being a cheminot meant risking your life with steam engines and wearing out your body shoveling coal. The average retirement age of a cheminot today is 52 (the U.S. retirement age is now 66). Any time this is threatened by any government measure they go on strike.
--the RATP, or public transport of Paris including buses and metros. Check their website for occasionally accurate information.
--Airport unions in Paris, Bordeaux, Lyons, Nice, Marseilles, and Nantes. Consult the website for your specific airline.
--Truck drivers look as if they will be on strike too. Stock up on groceries!
--The port of Marseilles (see "Who's en colère today?", left). If you have a car, you should keep it filled up
--Public schools and school cafeterias. There is supposed to be a service for parents of keeping the children safe at school anyway-- this is even required by law; but don't expect it to happen.
--The post office and France Télécom
--France Télévisions and all of Radio France's stations including France Inter, France Info, France Culture et France Musique will be on strike, with service minimum
--ÉDF and GDF Suez, the Electricity of France and Gas of France. "There will be, therefore, electricity and gas cuts to big and little companies," promises the energy branch of the big union CGT.
--courts. Although magistrates are not technically allowed to strike, they are encouraged to postpone any action on October 12th
--Social Security (the French national health care system) and unemployment offices
--emergency room workers and nurse anesthetists
--prefectures, mairies, and most government offices. Hope you don't need new papers next week!
--newspapers may be on short-term (two-hour) strike, with potentially no papers on Wednesday 13 October
--Peugeot, Michelin and Renault factories
Big demonstrations in central Paris can also be expected.
Have fun!
* a galère is seen below:
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