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Pouvoir Ouvrier, France [April 2001]
Less than a month after the local elections which dealt a severe blow to Jospinâs "Gauche Plurielle" government, French workers are turning to a far more sharper instrument to express their discontent with the government ö strike action.
Not long ago Jospin thought he had never had it so good. The economy in good health, reduction in unemployment, a certain level of social peace which would allow him to get on with the job of "subtely" restructuring the French economy to suit the interests of big capital. Today Jospin teeters on the edge of a repetition of the very movement that brought him to power.
For over a week now French railway workers have disrupted rail travel all over France. Their strike is not so much over pay and conditions but more over the rail bossesâ projet to restructure the SNCF. "Cap Client" is the project proposed by Louis Gallois, the head of the SNCF.
Presented as a way of better meeting the needs of the "clients" of this major public service, Cap Client is correctly seen by the rail unions as an attempt to break up the SNCF as a precursor to privatisation. Which is why a important section of rail workers, organised by the minority unions, have rejected a package around salaries and conditions with the promise of extra staff.
They know that if Cap Client goes through, the bosses of the SNCF will be in a far stronger position when it comes to clawing back these gains in the future.
The failure of the negotiations between unions and management this week is testimony to the strength of feeling amongst the rank and file of the unions . However the two main unions the CFDT and the CGT have refused to make this a major demand of the strike movement. In fact the CFDT has jumped on Gallois promise to put the project on ice (for how long?) and has argued for an end to the strike.
From the beginning the bosses have made it clear that Cap Client is not up for negotiation, it is Galloisâ baby and a necessary step to run the rail to fit the needs of business and not of the workers or the users. He thought that by offering to negotiate on questions such as salary, he could divert the justified anger of the railworkers. Fortunately the rail workers clearly understand what is at stake here.
The anger of the railworkers to the very real threat posed by Cap Client is such that even the CFDT, which has become more and more a tranmission belt for nŽo-liberalism into the workers movement, was forced to harden its stand against the rail bosses, going so far as to even threaten a general strike if the bosses refused to "discuss the question". Both the CFDT and the communist-led CGT announced a work stoppage on the day of the negotiations, without however calling on rail workers to stop.
The clarion call of Bernard Thibault, General Secretary of the CGT and bte noir of JuppŽs government when he led the 1995 strike, was for Cap Client to be "suspended". In contrast Sud-Rail, left split from the major unions and FO have insisted on nothing less than the withrawal of the reform package. Sud-Rail, in particular has been critical of calls for 24 hour strikes, recognising that much more is needed if the rail workers want to keep the threat of privatisation at bay.
The continuation of the strike by the minority unions has already found an echo amongst the rank and file of the CFDT and the CGT. The CGTâs hesitation in responding to the outcome of the negotiations can be explained in large part by the need to test the water first due to the contradictory pressures from, on the one hand the rank and file determined to fight against the proposed restructuring of the SNCF and on the other, the "communist" transport minister whose task is to oversee the destruction of the SNCF as a public service and its replacement by a competitive entrerprise.
The rail strike is just one example of how the mood of French workers is becoming more combative. Struggles are breaking out all over the place: job centre workers have just taken part in their biggest strike ever over the need for increased staffing following the reduction of the working week; museums have been shut as museum workers strike over the same question; young workers have been entering into struggle for the first time demanding that their pay and contracts be upgraded to those of older workers.
The government is also faced with discontent in the private sector, following the announcement of mass lay-offs ö 1800 from the Marks and Spencer group and 500 from the Lu filiale of Danone. Both the Marks and Spencer workers and the Lu workers have looked to Jospin to protect their jobs ö highlighting the fact that both groups have benefited from substantial government handouts over recent years.
However Jospin, whilst claiming to be "on the side" of the workers has made it clear that he will be do nothing to save the jobs of the Lu workers, despite the fact that Danone stockholders have enjoyed a 17% rise in their profits since last year. His criticism of Marks and Spencer was limited to the manner in which the workers were informed of their fate ö by fax at the same time that it was announced to everyone else.
More and more workers in France are realising that when things are going badly for the capitalists, workers pay the price and when things are going well ..... workers pay the price!
Danoneâs decision to close itâs biscuit factories is based on the lower profit margin of this side of its business compared with other sectors such as mineral water and yoghurt ö the latter generates a profit of 12% whilst Lu biscuits bring in a mere 8% - obviously not enough to satisfy the insatiable appetites of the Danone shareholders.
Lu workers have responded by calling for a boycott of Danone products. This call has been taken up enthusiastically within the movement. Some socialist town halls have already banned Danone from municipal canteens.
But what is really needed is a full frontal fightback against the closures which draws in other Danone workers. Calls have been raised for the government to make such mass lay-offs financially and bureaucratically difficult. But the Danone and the Marks and Spencer workers canât afford to wait for a law to be passed in parliament. Their jobs are on the line now.
Workers themselves must impose their own restrictions on the bosses through their self-action. Workers need to link up their struggles to defend jobs and conditions and to ensure that job security and decent salaries are extended to all workers. Already Marks and Spencer workers have been winning support of other nearby shop workers who know only too well that they may be next in the firing line.
Public sector workers also need to link up their struggles around the common theme of defending public services. Any restructuring of public service should be about making it accountable to those who use it and work for it, through worker and community control. Such a struggle can draw in workers in the private sector and in the localities.
Jospin may have thought that he could ride out the popular discontent expressed at the recent elections by making noises in the direction of (modest) salary increases. Unfortunately for him, the spirit of 1995 is alive and well amongst French workers, and the "third round" is taking place where it counts ö in the work places and on the streets!
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