Aidan Curran posted on November 20, 2007 06:04
If Sky Sports had the rights to show live French industrial action, then Richard Keys would surely be calling today 'Super Grand Slam Strike Showdown Tuesday'. The striking transport workers will be joined on the streets of Paris today by the civil service. Many schools are closed today; communications and electricity employees are also being called out by their unions. Workers in all sectors are being invited to join the industrial action.
However, there's a general feeling that today will be the last day of France's current strike. Popular support for the transport workers is low (perhaps due to consistent anti-strike mainstream news coverage), and many of the smaller bus and rail unions have already gone back to work on the basis of negotiations offered by the government. There are enough trains and buses for people to move around with only slight delays and discomfort. And the civil service strike is just a one-day stoppage which happens to coincide with the transport workers' ongoing action.
Nonetheless, for today at least the stoppages and walkouts are continuing - and there are interesting repercussions. Many journalists and broadcasters have joined the industrial action. Quality broadsheets like Le Monde haven't been published today, and last night radio and television stations were warning their listeners and viewers of possible disruption.
Most people, on hearing that news, probably saw the advantages to the strike at last. Today our favourite alternative radio station, Le Mouv', has no DJs - as a result it's playing non-stop music, with the only interruption being the occasional public service message to apologise for the disruption to regular programming. No need to apologise, monsieur! Let there be strikes every day! Your blogger will bring soup to the barricades if needs be! (Cultural difference: French workers on strike don't stand in picket lines outside their premises.)
It reminds us of the RTE strike in 1991, when the TV and radio schedules were filled with loads of movies, brilliant repeats (Sports Stadium that weekend featured the epic France-Brazil 1986 World Cup quarter-final in full), and wall-to-wall music.
Your blogger is resting in Château French Letter today, the day job being indirectly affected by the strikes. Sitting at home, listening to non-stop great music on the radio and watching football highlights on Eurosport (too essential to be allowed to go on strike), we are in complete solidarity with our fellow workers who are marching to Place de la Bastille this afternoon. Wrap up well, mes comrades - it looks freezing outside.
As a big shout out to our beloved transport workers, here's the Blondie/No Doubt power-pop of Superbus (honoured in our Best French Music Of 2006) and their current single 'Travel The World'. Like the Yael Naim song we featured recently, this song's chorus is a no-brainer for an ad campaign:
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