Recon By Fire
May 27, 2003, 10:28 PM
Thousands of flights were either cancelled, delayed or rerouted around the world as the second air traffic controllers' strike in as many months crippled France.
The walkout grounded 80 percent of the 4,000 flights which land or take off in France every day, leaving the industry millions of dollars out of pocket.
While many France-bound travellers arrived at foreign airports to find flights cancelled, the strike-weary French largely heeded advance warnings from airlines and altered their plans.
From Britain alone, more than 220 flights to France were scrapped, with British Airways paying the heaviest price, cancelling 103 flights out of 120. Nearly 100 flights were grounded from Spain and German flag carrier Lufthansa said 80 flights were scrapped.
Orly airport on the southern fringes of Paris was almost deserted, its arrival and departure screens flooded with red 'cancelled' signs.
Protesters took to the streets across France to vent their anger against government plans to force people to work for longer to earn full pensions.
In Paris alone, organisers said 45,000 demonstrators rallied, while police put the turnout at 27,000. Some called for a general strike.
Garbage collectors, dressed in their green uniform with fluorescent yellow stripes, threw white pieces of paper on to Parisian streets. One in five of the capital's bins was left unemptied.
SCHOOLS SHUT
Unions said up to 60 percent of teachers joined the strike, the seventh big walkout by school staff in action that has kept some children out of school for weeks and disrupted exams. The Education Ministry put turnout at about 40 percent.
Teachers are protesting against reforms that will make many work beyond the age of 65 to get a full pension. They also object to plans to decentralise education funding which they fear will cost jobs.
The government insists its plans are the only way to save the state-run pension system from a funding crunch when ''baby-boomers'' start flooding in to retirement.
In the southern port city of Marseille, commuters had to make do with a skeletal metro service and no trams. Only 21 of the city's 390 buses left the depot.
Even with a birth rate of 1.9 babies per woman -- well above the European average -- French statistics office INSEE predicts that a third of France's population will be retired by 2040.
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin promised on Tuesday to have more discussions with unions on decentralisation plans, in a bid to appease striking teachers before the bulk of secondary school exams start on June 12.
''They ask me for big gestures. I am ready for them. The government is open to dialogue,'' Raffarin said after an inter-ministerial meeting on education.
Further protests loom, with transport and civil service unions calling for an open-ended strike from June 3.
Democracy Kicks as*, just look at the alternative. Greedy, righteous Frenchmen :neener:
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters05-27-114638.asp?reg=EUROPE (http://)
The walkout grounded 80 percent of the 4,000 flights which land or take off in France every day, leaving the industry millions of dollars out of pocket.
While many France-bound travellers arrived at foreign airports to find flights cancelled, the strike-weary French largely heeded advance warnings from airlines and altered their plans.
From Britain alone, more than 220 flights to France were scrapped, with British Airways paying the heaviest price, cancelling 103 flights out of 120. Nearly 100 flights were grounded from Spain and German flag carrier Lufthansa said 80 flights were scrapped.
Orly airport on the southern fringes of Paris was almost deserted, its arrival and departure screens flooded with red 'cancelled' signs.
Protesters took to the streets across France to vent their anger against government plans to force people to work for longer to earn full pensions.
In Paris alone, organisers said 45,000 demonstrators rallied, while police put the turnout at 27,000. Some called for a general strike.
Garbage collectors, dressed in their green uniform with fluorescent yellow stripes, threw white pieces of paper on to Parisian streets. One in five of the capital's bins was left unemptied.
SCHOOLS SHUT
Unions said up to 60 percent of teachers joined the strike, the seventh big walkout by school staff in action that has kept some children out of school for weeks and disrupted exams. The Education Ministry put turnout at about 40 percent.
Teachers are protesting against reforms that will make many work beyond the age of 65 to get a full pension. They also object to plans to decentralise education funding which they fear will cost jobs.
The government insists its plans are the only way to save the state-run pension system from a funding crunch when ''baby-boomers'' start flooding in to retirement.
In the southern port city of Marseille, commuters had to make do with a skeletal metro service and no trams. Only 21 of the city's 390 buses left the depot.
Even with a birth rate of 1.9 babies per woman -- well above the European average -- French statistics office INSEE predicts that a third of France's population will be retired by 2040.
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin promised on Tuesday to have more discussions with unions on decentralisation plans, in a bid to appease striking teachers before the bulk of secondary school exams start on June 12.
''They ask me for big gestures. I am ready for them. The government is open to dialogue,'' Raffarin said after an inter-ministerial meeting on education.
Further protests loom, with transport and civil service unions calling for an open-ended strike from June 3.
Democracy Kicks as*, just look at the alternative. Greedy, righteous Frenchmen :neener:
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters05-27-114638.asp?reg=EUROPE (http://)