Je ne veux pas travailler… I have been singing this song all week for reasons unknown to myself other than the fact that my subconscious mind has been telling me I don’t want to work (obviously !).
But it seems I was not the only one. France has been gripped by strike fever this week!
The French certainly do know how to cause chaos. Although, I have to admit, I have hidden in my house all week and not noticed any of the goings on, apparently this week has been major strike week. How can I possibly live in France and not notice something as major as this?
Okay, so apparently, this week the strikes have been:
Bus and tram drivers
As I work from home I’m not directly affected by this (thankfully) but when they’re on strike it generally means maximum disruption and has dreadful knock on effects. I don’t know why they’re striking this time, they do strike often so maybe someone can enlighten me?
GP’s
Striked on Thursday in order to protest about lack of resources and growing number of patients (okay so I knew about this one because my GP told me! He was all excited about having a day off!). There are loads of GP’s in France and they offer the best medical care I know of, in anycase far far better than the UK. Maybe they should spend some time there?
Secondary school teachers
On strike today. I don’t know why they’re striking either…
Dustbin collectors – on strike from today until who knows when….
The bin men are complaining that their jobs are dirty (no way! I would never have guessed that if I was applying for a job to a bin man!) and that they are not satisfied with the 1% pay rise they received in January. They also want to lower the pension age.
In Lyon our bins are collected every day from outside of our property. Compared to the UK where many areas only have collections twice a month this is a luxury so they’ll have to strike a long time before I’ll miss them. As for the UK, that’s really gross and politicians and councils should be ashamed.
Magistrates & Lawyers
I couldn’t care less about Magistrates and Lawyers. All they ever do is take money (my money) and there is never much result! As my husband says (more eloquently in French) “the French legal system is a circus, animated by clowns and jugglers!”.
Prison Wardens
mmmm, a bit worrying seems as people frequently escape from prisons in France (or maybe its just me that thinks this?).
There’s also another National Strike planned for 23rd March the aim of the game being to cause maximum disruption to everyone in France and bring the country to a standstill. Last time there was a National Strike no-one I know bothered going to work except for yours truly as I work from home!
Hmm, I’ve been at home all week, too, so I didn’t notice much, either. I’m used to strikes, but my, that *is* a lot for one week! I love that song, too. It’s in my head a lot more than it probably should be
To be honest I hadn’t noticed a thing. I looked at my bins this morning and they were empty so I’m not sure…
Damn song, I love it but can’t get it out of my head!!
I think I read something about workers in créches (daycares), also being on strike this past week. National Strike on March 23, eh? Since I am pretty much holed up in my apartment, I don’t know that I would notice, unless the INTERNET went on strike! Aaaack! Now THAT would be bad! :p
Quelle horreur! Can you imagine if the internet went of strike?????? I don’t even know if that could happen but just the very thought of it has been trembling at the knees!