A Striking Cultural Difference

So, I guess I've been rather absent. Again, I will use the excuse that I've been out and about, living my life here. I'm at the end of my fourth and last vacation, and Daphne just came to visit. Although we did not leave the Nice area (we did go to Italy one afternoon) I still had a wonderful time. Either way, I've just not felt the blogging inspiration recently.

A topic of conversation as of recent is how difficult it is to travel. Currently I know a few people stranded in different destinations because of the Icelandic volcano, but before that there was the train strike. So, I thought I'd talk a little bit about the French and their love of the "grève."

Since October when I started, every couple of months the teachers' unions will plan a day to strike. If it is only teachers, then they will meet in front of the Rectorat (= education hq for the city) and have picket signs, whatever. Also, there are days where nationally unions will call for strikes and there are protesters in the street for a couple of hours.

In the fall/winter the strikes did not affect much. I know of about 3-5 teachers who actually strike when the day comes, and they are older, more seasoned teachers. So, usually I still have to work, I just know that their classes will be canceled. I have also heard that students will get word of a strike and decide to be "solidaire" and not come to school.

However, the national strike in March was much bigger. I mentioned that I still had one class, but I actually got up that morning so I could go see the manifestations /protests. Since this was a national strike of all the unions, there were firefighters, rescue workers, teachers, newspapers, and all the transportations were represented. The parade started at Place Massena, continued through Garibaldi and I was shocked that an hour later (after I had returned to eat lunch) I saw them coming down Jean Medecin. (I know that means nothing to those of you who have not been to Nice, but they did at least a mile or two of parading!)

Honestly, I did not pay too much attention to what they were protesting about. I do know that usually the teachers are protesting against Education policies that might require bigger class sizes or more work hours. Also, the national strike in March came just a few days after their regional elections. I heard some people remarks about how the French just told the government how they wanted things via voting, and now they felt the need to strike. I guess I kind of equate the French's love to strike with the American mentality about the second amendment-- it's a right.

I do have to give the transportation people a little credit for getting their point across. For almost 2 weeks the trains in France have been on strike. It came right during Easter break which is a major holiday for a lot of Europe, and the strike has inconvenienced a LOT of tourists. I have some friends stranded in Barcelona currently waiting for a way back to Nice, and that's just the beginning. Only a few trains run per day and the only way to know which ones is to go to the station. Once you tick off a bunch of vacationing Europeans, you can consider your strike a success, I guess.

I'll end by asking what you think of the French and their love for strikes? Do you think they're effective? and I'll include a few pictures that I took from March.



"Following a social movement, the tramway network will be cancelled today. Thank you for understanding."