November 2007 Strikes in France - Beginning of The Strikes

Beginning of The Strikes

On 13 November 2007, SNCF rail workers and Paris Métro personnel became the first group of workers to commence their strike. Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand met with union leaders on 14 November 2007 to try to find a resolution. On the first day of the strike, only 90 out of 700 TGV trains were running, and other rail services were reduced sharply. In Paris, the Métro was only running at 20% capacity and bus services only at 15%. However, some Métro lines experienced fewer disruptions than expected, leading some observers to conclude that support for the strike was not as strong as unions claimed.

30% of the workers of the 70% state owned Gaz de France and Électricité de France went on strike on 13 November, reducing the national electricity production by 8000 MW (roughly 10%). There were no fears of power outages. The Opéra National de Paris, a group subject to the special retirement plan (régimes spéciaux de retraite), also cancelled performances. However in a short interview granted to the BBC the director claimed these cancellations were due to insufficient customers because of travel difficulties incurred by the strikes.

In addition, some university students demonstrated and blocked the entrances to their campuses in opposition to plans to allow private funding of Universities. In the University of Nanterre students were forcefully removed by riot police, however this was censored on the national news. On 13 November the newspaper Le Figaro (which is owned by Sarkozy supporter Serge Dassault ) and the cable news channel LCI reprted that a survey found that about 7 out of 10 people said the strikes were unjustified.