Public sector workers – from schools, hospitals, the Post Office and publicly-funded media – will join forces with car factory workers, helicopter pilots and even ski-lift operators from the private sector, to leave much of the country paralysed.
The show of force is backed by all of France’s main unions, the opposition Socialists and 75 per cent of the public see it as justified, according to one poll.
According to François Chérèque, leader of the moderate CFDT union, the strike is a “cry of anger” from workers who feel the government has given billions to banks and industry but not protected their jobs or “purchasing power”.
Not much is going to come of this. The French government is going to back down so fast that there will be no need to prolong the strikes.