What the f**k France - Les Grèves

Really? Do feel free to enlighten me… explaining how it was ok for me to loose 680€ and miss a family funeral because of strikers. I can barely wait…

There’s a good discussion going on here, let’s keep it on track please :slight_smile:

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Can’t argue about you not giving a jot about them, and I’m sure you’re correct about them not giving a jot about you either.
One difference though might be that these people do give a jot about France, about working conditions for this generation and future generations, about the government (as they see it) abusing its powers and forcing changes (in their opinion for the worse) through against the will of the people. Their intention - misguided or otherwise - is to make France a better place to live. Whereas you, perhaps, do not give a jot about any of these things. Some of your posts rather give the impression that you don’t much like living in France and you don’t like the French (I’m remembering your comment about all those smelly peasants boring you to tears at your pathetic village fêtes). And I presume you don’t work here, never have and never will. So you’re totally disaffected; other people feel involved enough to sympathise to a greater or lesser extent; other people still are committed enough to take action. So there are bound to be clashes. I’m afraid you’ll have to live with it.

You are making a lot of assumptions here @Anna! I would appreciate it if you did not use such emotive language. Thanks! :slight_smile:

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Maybe the day you are affected by something that affects these folks, you will understand. I recently went to a demo in Annemasse and Bonneville by a group of bikers, because they are banning certain bikes from entering certain cities, on the grounds of pollution… Even those not affected ARE affected, with the “Crit’air” vignette that everyone, including your good self, will have to eventually buy. Scooters refuse to stand with bikers, they’re also affected, car drivers beep and say we “fut le bordel”… then they wonder where thse extra taxes, charges, restrictions come from, because they don’t have an ear to the ground regarding legislation.

i stand by my statement, you were put out, you refuse to know or care why those people protested, and yet here you are, complaining… case in point.

‘Put out’ Zoe??? I missed a relative’s funeral for goodness sake. I also stand by my previous statements which you have helped to reinforce in my mind!!

“put out”, yes, but although the fact that it was a funeral adds emotional weight to your argument, it is no different than the people in the metro screaming at the driver when a stoppage has been announced on the tracks due to someone jumping out under the train in front of him, without caring or wanting to know why. The emotional weight means nothing to them. the suicide of the jumper, nor trauma felt by the driver that could do nothing means zilch to a packed train at rush hour.
You made a very simple and valid point earlier, " If you don’t like your job / employer - change them."… simple, really… well, it’s also as simple as this. If you don’t support strikers, don’t use companies that regurlarly strike. Problem solved. You’re depending on a taxi, or cheap airline to get you somewhere?? In your own words “change them”. Also, the money should have been reimboursed to you, in the case of a strike, there is no question about that. If a company is going to treat it’s workers like crap, though, the betting is, they’ll treat their customers like crap too.

You appear to be very angry @Zoe_Buckley.

I do indeed try not to use companies or services that regularly strike. I take the stance that maybe those companies going down the pan due to hacking off thier customers would send a clear message to the striking employees who suddenly find themselves without a job. Sadly loyal employees would be caught in the crossfire - collateral damage I guess ‘you’ would call it Zoe.

I’m not entirely sure how those protesting about long overdue changes to French labour laws, by blockading the entrance to Toulouse airport, are going to reimburse me - but hey, I’ll look into it !! Great idea Zoe… problem is, it’s not always about the money is it? I couldn’t care less about the money - I missed a family funeral so perhaps you can understand my points of reference are different to yours. Maybe you can’t - I don’t care, just like I don’t care about the plight of the protestors on that day. Never will.

Without knowledge of the circumstances, I put your experience down to either a cancelled flight, or cancelled train. Blockages are another story, and I am glad you clarified, and yes, in that case, I tend to agree that it is wrong to blockade the working man. Pickets are fair enough, and one has the choice, to cross a picket line or not, but that agressive idea of stopping those that simply, as you yourself put it, don’t care, it takes from the credibility of their plight…
A little like saying “feel sorry for me”, and “fork you”, all in the same breath.
In any case, no, not angry, just a little tired of the “I’m alright, jack” brigade.
by the by, if you had mentioned WHY and HOW you were a victim of striking, i might not have had to take the stance that strikers have a right to strike “no matter what”… knowing that it wasn’t a cancellation, but rather, a blockade changes just about everything.

Until you are forced into the position where strike action is the only way forward it’s hard to explain or understand. For so many people it is the only option but certainly not the easy option.

Oh come on Zoe - you need to re-read my earlier posts! You decide upon the stance you take and, based on your comments, I very much doubt anyone elses experiences or feelings come into it. No one made you take any stance.

That’s about all I read… no reason, nor does it matter now that we know the reality, but yes, my stance on a situation will, and should change, given what I know about the actual situation at hand… Is it not the case for you?
A woman fell on the road on some leaves tonight, and found herself, quite literally, under a truck… should I just have beeped at her for the inconvenience, and drove on, enraged at her insolence?

My stance was based on YOUR comments, and that’s generally how a conversation works, two people replying to each other.

No Zoe - my guess is that your stance would be the same no matter what anyone else says about strikers.

I hope the lady involved in the accident this evening received all the medical help she required. It must have been very traumatic for you as well. Kind of puts things into perspective doesn’t it…

It was traumatic, to those that bothered to notice… plenty of folks sped past, plenty beeped, plenty shouted at the trucker to get out of the way, and some even shoulted at the lady for being out in the dark alone. That is quite alarming indeed.

My stance on strikers, I laid it out… my stance on blockades and unpassable pickets, I laid that out… there is no more to be said, but continue arguing with yourself if you wish.

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I’ve never really understood why the ‘right to strike’ appears to outweigh the ‘right to work’ (and earn a living!) in the minds of strikers / protesters.