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Everything you always wanted to know about France - from France |
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Crazy Frogs - Lazy Frogs?I though I would get my 2c in about the strikes and student grievances in France. Having three chidren at college, in the lycee and at a university here, as well as myself working with rentals and property services, plus having an elder son with a ski chalet in the Alps where I went to see him last week - I am directly involved in all sides of this. The actions are all triggered by the governments attempt to make the employment laws more realistic with the need for businesses in France to be more competitive Internationally. The other side is the pressure from workforce to maintain laws which give protection from dismissal. One side says it is handicapped by restrictive and expensive regulations which make it uneconomic to employ people... The other side says the laws are there to protect workers from exploitation. Unemployment is officially 10% in France - locally to us this is over 30% and in many inner city areas it is over 50%. Yet France has one of the highest productivity levels in the world - these apparently conflicting statements are true because no employer can afford to take on new labour so office and factory automation is very efficiently applied - take into account the cash economy and illegal working practices and you can see why the taxation in France is one of the highest in the world, with a lot of people paying little direct income tax. My kids have been locked out of school for two weeks - some students barricaded the entrances, some teachers have marched in the local streets in protest - some blocked runways at airports, with no intervention from the police or gendarmerie. In my opinion they kids are playing into the hands of the politicians and further control and exploitation will result. In a capitalist society employers must be encouraged and allowed to make a profit, to deny this will move capital away to more progressive areas. To ruin the biggest single industry in France, which is tourism, is a madness France cannot afford. Tourism pays the wages of the striking Air Traffic Controllers. The French are not lazy, nor are they any more crazy than most people - but a wake-up call is sounding around the world where society has created a dangerously complacent outlook - perhaps. There are over 2,000 features and articles on this site about French life and living in France. You can search from the search box above. Do browse through our website and please use the advertising links, they help pay for the site. I do try to reply to all mail - Contact Me - most is about property or living in France. I publish comments in this newsletter which I believe are of interest and may help find answers for people wanting to come to France. I hope readers will go to the adverts which help support our overheads. |
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