It has been reported that the french transport union WITH 4500MEMBERS
are thinking of a blockade of oil depots and refinerys and also the bordercrossings hey did some stunts on the 5th sep monday in dijon,mulhouse and aude but that was it seems only the begining.
The difference between us and the french is that they make a point of standing together in their beliefs, and probably has a lot to do with their union.
We dont have the same clout from either the unions or the transport associations, (in my opinion) maybe we could learn something from them
tc trans:
The difference between us and the french is that they make a point of standing together in their beliefs, and probably has a lot to do with their union.We dont have the same clout from either the unions or the transport associations, (in my opinion) maybe we could learn something from them
I am led to believe that the French truckers are in the same union as the police, is this true?
I do remember reading that fact some where as well , when they had that last big long strike for a few fears ago, perhaps one of the menbers who
lives in france ,can answer this question better,
I believe that while that used to be the case it is no longer, and is why their protests have been less efective recently. It was not too long ago when a protest drive on Paris came to an abrupt end when the drivers were threatened with arrest, something that wouldn’t have happened years ago.
robinhood_1984:
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I am led to believe that the French truckers are in the same union as the police, is this true?
Don’t know about that Robin. Where I worked there were 4 classes of driver representation - those in F0 (Force Ouvrier), those in CGT (I think), those in nothing, and one in URTU (me).
Pretty sure the police aren’t in URTU, but as both the others are ‘general’ unions like T&G, it’s a possibility.
You have to make a distinction between Police and Gendarmes. The first are civilian like in Britain under the Home Affairs Ministry while the Gendarmes (gens d’armes = armed people) are military in the control of the Defence Ministry.
You would think that that would rule out industrial action or demonstration but there was the hilarious situation in Paris a couple of years ago when demonstrating gendarmes were confronted by police attempting civil control 
.
As Coffee said, as have I on more than one occasion, the Raffarin government started to take a strong stand against blockaders (not strikers) a few years ago and this has made such things less likely now (maybe different with farmers and fishermen though). I expect the current de Villepin government to follow the same course. However it is this national direction, rather than any ‘brotherly solidarity’, which has effected the change.
Salut, David.
well you learn something every day. gens darmes= armed people. (theres no sarcasm here-i genuinely didnt know!)