French truckers take strike action against Macron’s labor decrees
By
Anthony Torres
27 September 2017
Members of the transport federations of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and Workers Force (FO) unions are carrying out 50 blockades and go-slow operations across France to protest President Emmanuel Macron’s labor decrees. However, the CGT and FO are deliberately isolating the truckers’ strike in an effort to dissipate the resistance of the working class and block the emergence of a broader, revolutionary struggle against the austerity policies of Macron and the European Union.
Amid growing public hostility to the labor decrees, the same unions that negotiated the measures with Macron have called rolling strikes in various industries so as to prevent the opposition from escaping their control. At the same time, they are issuing bankrupt appeals to Macron.
FO Transport leader Michel Dey declared, “We must be heard, finally. They must stop acting deaf, otherwise it will be a big, big movement.” The CGT is warning drivers to “fill up your tank pretty soon” to deal with fuel shortages.
Truckers fear Macron’s decrees, which would allow employers to slash bonuses and facilitate sackings by limiting damages for unfair dismissal for the supposed purpose of improving French competitiveness against Eastern European competition. It would also enable employers to end a program that allows some truckers to retire at 57.
Go-slow operations in western, northern and eastern France have created traffic jams, including on highways toward Brussels and Luxembourg. At Gennevilliers, in the Paris suburbs, the CGT distributed leaflets near a Total fuel depot guarded by riot police.
Government spokesman Christophe Castaner declared Monday that negotiations were continuing…