French PM holds Firm: At Least For the Moment

Fire of Liberty

Maybe I spoke too soon about PM Dominique de Villepin bending to the will of Chirac and the labor unions. It seems that instead of having a reasonable sit-down with de Villepin(who surprisingly seems to be standing on principle and continues to push a seemingly free-market policy) they prefer to push their agenda of life-time employment, a 35 hr. workweek, 4 month vacations, early retirement, and a system that places heavy restrictions on management when they try to fire workers, which has resulted in the labor unions calling a general strike Tuesday. So once again the kids are going to shut down the schools (preventing folks who want to earn a degree from going to class) and the unions are going to shut down the trains, buses and whatever else they control(Keeping the citizens of France from getting to their jobs thus affecting commerce and people's earnings) so they can go to the streets once again and cause more chaos in the street which causes more problems than solutions thus demonstrating why France's overall unemployment is some 10% amongst and 23% amongst the 18-26 year olds. I just hope that de Villepin stands his ground and don't become a whipping boy of the militant unions in France.